A Life I Lived
by Zyks
Summary: "My life was normal, peaceful, serene.I had a beautiful wife, a smart boy, and a steady job everything I could've asked for in my life. But I guess god likes to play a cruel game. I lost everything, and now . . . now I think I've gone insane." First Fanfiction please don't be to critical with the story.
1. Chapter 1 Re-Write

What has my life become? A little over two years ago I had everything that I could have asked for. Now it seems like a distant memory, left to be forgotten in the vastness of my mind. I remember my life ended, it was the hardest day of my life.

I remember that it was my day off; I was wearing my pajamas, and was reading a book. The Giver, was a very intriguing story, I never thought a utopian society could do those things. My eyes would glance from left to right reading the text that was printed on paper, and enjoying the strong sense of trepidation the book gave me.

In a sense, it reminded me of my life before I moved to New York. I grew up in Greeley, Colorado, where the grass was gray, where the streets were crowded, and where the air smelled like shit all the time. I could never really get used to the smell of the place; it was one of the reasons why I left.

My childhood wasn't exactly 'stable'. I had an abusive father, my mother wasn't exactly the best role model, and my brother had left me in my adolescent age. That's all the information I'll give you right now. I have a feeling you'll know it later after my tale.

While reading my book, I heard the phone rang which in turn took my mind out of its immersion. I didn't bother to pick it up as I wanted to enjoy my day away from the frustration of work. That was until I heard it stop ringing, and heard footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

"James?" The beautiful lady said in a questioning tone which ultimately made me look up from my book, and look into her entrancing brown eyes poking through the door.

"It's John," She said pointing to the phone on my left before closing the door behind her. The girl that had poked her head through the door was my wife, Kathleen Klein. We met in our freshmen year of high school, and we hated each other.

We wouldn't get in fights or anything like that. No, no, we just outright hated each other, tried to tell the other one off so we could be in peace. And it's obvious how things turned out between the two of us. And while I would love to give out my life story on this one sheet of paper, I feel as if you'll understand later in the story. Anyway, back to the phone.

With the laziness of the cat, I picked up the phone and put it to my ear.

"James I need you back at the station, I have a case that suites your department," He said his small stale tone. I took off my reading glasses and pinched the bridge of my nose. I wasn't blind or anything, I just had trouble reading small words on paper.

"I know it's you day off, and I'm sorry for calling you, but the other detectives are too busy with their own cases to take up this one. I need you to at least take a look at it, I'll even pay you over time," Recently the offices were being overstocked with cases or burglary, robbery, and theft. Some of the other detectives started to think that the crimes were all connected, but I didn't really focus on them as I dealt with my own.

I mostly handled murder cases, but occasionally John would have me look into one of his more selective cases. Since you're probably confused, I worked in the police department; more specifically, in the New York branch. Yes, I lived in bustling city of New York. I never considered myself a city boy, but I wanted a change of scenery after growing up in Colorado. Must say it was a bit overwhelming at first, but I got used to it.

After hearing my boss keep talking through the phone, I finally told him I would meet him at the station. I begrudgingly got up and went into Kathleen's and my bedroom. When I had my clothes on and my hair tidied, I looked into a mirror to see if I was presentable.

The first thing I noticed about myself was that my jet-black hair was a bit overdue for a haircut, the slight stubble on my cheeks was starting to show, and my light brown skin punctuated my golden bloodshot eyes. I was wearing a blue long sleeved formal shirt, dark blue jeans, and black sneakers. Not exactly up to police standards, but I was off duty. Once I was happy with how I looked, I walked out the door.

My eyes were always bloodshot as I was always tired. If I had a case on my hands, it would have my full and utter attention. Somethings I would spend the night at the offices trying to piece together the evidence. It got so bad that John had to force me to take a day off. Which is where I was that day, taking my vacation. He forces me to take the day off only for him to beg me to look into his case. Ironic really.

Standing in front of the door was Kathleen and she did not look happy.

"We agreed you needed time off," She said in a scolding tone. Out of the both of us, she was the dominant of our relationship. She wouldn't take shit from me, and the only times she would was if it was for our family's benefit. It was one of her weaknesses.

She was planning on becoming a doctor or nurse. She went to college, got a diploma, and applied to hospitals. It's a shame they never called back. Since she wasn't hired in her career path, she decided to become a stay at home mom.

"Kathleen," I said steadily.

"James," She replied.

"Kathleen, we need the money. Timmy's books are becoming more expensive, we still need to pay off your student loans, and we have bills due in a couple weeks. I simply can't let this opportunity go to waste," I forgot to tell you, me and Kathleen had a kid. Had being the word. His name was Timothy Conner, Timmy for short, and he was a human calculator.

He was only in elementary and was already taking calculus. He got an A+ on every single math… anything. I'm still not sure how he was smart to be that good at math without even trying, but somehow be bad enough at school to be failing. The teachers said he never payed attention to any of the other subject as much, and was probably going to be held back if he doesn't pick up his slack.

So Kathleen and I decided that if he didn't start focus more, we would pull him out of the advanced placement program. When we told him, he was sweating beads. I knew he didn't want to go back to the regular classes where all the bullies and 'idiots' were, and I wouldn't have done it to him.

"I know we need this James, but… please take it easy," She said as we walked to the front door of the house. We passed by some decorations that littered the walls of our home. We passed pictures of ourselves, ornaments, even the gun I hung up on the wall.

I had that gun ever since I was eleven it was a gift from my grandpa. Unlike me, he was a big game hunter. He'd hunt deer, buck, and even bears sometimes. I was never into the sport as much as him, but he was insistent that I learn how to shoot the gun. It was a Winchester Pre-64 model 70, had a scope, held three bullets, it even had a strap to carry over my shoulder.

Sometimes he'd take me out hunting with him, and would teach me how to catch buck. I never really wanted to shoot a gun before, but apparently he paid over $1000 for it and wasn't gonna take my whining.

I guess the reason he bought so much ammo for the gun was because he thought I'd be a hunter like him. It's a shame we never really spent time together. He died at the old age of sixty had something to do with his cholesterol or something, I was too young to understand.

In his Will I was to be given his thick green hunting jacket, the gun he bought for me, and all of the ammo he bought for the gun when I was of legal age. Of course this was after I had moved to New York; I don't think they would let a random stranger carry a gun into a plane.

I never threw the gun away because it reminded me of my grandfather. Even though he was a very strict man, he always made it seem like I was important to him. I feel like I was insulting him by just keeping the gun hanged up on a wall.

When Kathleen and I finally reached the door, she gave me a quick kiss on the check and again told me to be careful. I was in the driveway of our house, and walked to our car. It was colored blue, a sedan, and was very cheap.

Once I was in one of the two cars on the driveway, I casually drove to work.

The traffic in New York was terrible as it usually was, and it took me about thirty minutes to actually see the station. Honestly, faster than it usually was. After waiting for god knows how long, I finally pulled into the station and headed inside.

Walking through the halls of the old building, I was met with lazy glances and short stares; although, they didn't bother me much. I walked all the way to my boss's office, opened the door, and saw that he was looking at a file. He looked up, and motioned me forward to him.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice," I nodded my head in response, and sat down on the seat opposite of him.

"I see you didn't bring the mystery gun this time, oh well," The gun he's talking about is my personal revolver. The reason for the nickname was that I received the gun from an anonymous package. It had about two-hundred bullets of the ammo type it used in it, and had a note attached to it; although, the only thing it said was 'Use it well'. It was a RG Industries revolver, or that's what the detectives said.

Yea I had the gun checked out; I was a bit skeptical of it and asked that it be investigated by the PD. They took the gun in their custody and checked it out to see if they could find a lead to that sent it. I waited three weeks until I got a call back that they couldn't find out who sent it. I was allowed to use it as my sidearm in the department, but because I didn't buy the gun it was kept under police custody. I didn't bother to use the ammo that the mystery person sent as the PD was more than willing to supply me with it.

It was a mystery to everybody in the station, and probably about as confusing as the case that was John's hands.

"James, I'm not sure what to think of this case, it just baffles me," He said while giving me the file he had in his hands. I looked over it and honestly was a bit confused.

A sixteen year old girl was found inside of her parents' house murdered. There were no forced signs of entry, there were no fingerprints, and hell there wasn't that much property damage. But it was clear there was a struggle.

It reminded me of why I became a detective in the first place. I was out on a crime scene making sure bystanders didn't pass the yellow tape. A guy, around twenty five, was shot and murdered in his backyard.

I stood back and watched the professionals at work. It intrigued me. They were so delicate, they looked from every angle, every perspective. It impressed me.

It started to get me thinking about how it would be like to be a detective. The pay was better, less dangerous, and on the plus side it actually made me feel smarter. Kathleen encouraged me to try and get into the branch, and told me that if I got 100% on it I would be rewarded.

I prepared for the test as much as I could. When I took it and finished it, I was happy to see that I passed with flying colors. I was given a new badge and my first case the next day. I didn't solve it immediately, but I did. There was a burglary in an old dairy, and I was trying to be complicated about it. But I could've figured out who did it, if I looked at the security cams first. I learned that sometimes the solution to a problem is usually the easiest one.

And I thought it would be the same for the case I was looking at.

"The security cams we looked at showed that a guy walked in with her, but didn't walk out," John told.

"Could you see his face in the security cams?" I asked.

"Well if we could see his face, I wouldn't be asking for you to look into this, would've had the bastard in jail by now" He said with a bit of irritation in his tone.

"Is there a backyard?" I replied.

"Yea there is, but there are no security cameras there, we would-"

"How close is the nearest street to her backyard?" I said cutting him off as I was a too impatient to hear him ramble on about how he would do something.

"Umm… about three blocks away," He said in a curious tone.

"Check those security tapes. If he ran on foot, we'll be able to tell where he went. If he had a car there we'll have some sort of lead," I said while putting the file back down.

"I'll get those tapes and review them, it shouldn't take that-" Before he could finish his sentence, he and I heard my phone vibrate in my pants. Pulling out my phone, I saw that it was Kathleen calling me; obviously, I answered it.

"James, can you pick up Timmy on your way back?" She asked me in a pleading tone.

"I really don't feel like going through the traffic today, James. And besides, you're closer," I always picked up Timmy when I had the chance. But usually Kathleen would take her car and pick up Timmy herself. I didn't envy her, having to go through school traffic is hellish enough, but add New York's bustling populous than you have a recipe for impatience.

"Okay, I'll pick him up," I said while I slightly groaned. I didn't want to go through that traffic, but I do owe Kathleen for getting her pregnant. Then again, that was always her excuse to make me do everything.

"Thanks," She said before hanging up. I did the same, hanging up my gravity T-Mobile phone. Yea I had a switch phone, it was a bit outdated but it was reliable.

"Looks like I'm leaving early John, I have to pick Timmy," I said while getting up and putting the phone back inside my pocket.

"Don't fret James, it would've taken hours to go through all the footage anyways," He said as he was dialing numbers on his office phone, more than likely calling the tech department to help him get the footage. As I was about to leave, I heard him talk to me one last time.

"You know, you should hit the gym more often, I'm quite certain your wife would like it if you had more muscle," He said in a playful tone. I simply ignored him and walked to the parking lot. I had a lean body, and no, it wasn't rippling with muscles, and I sure as hell wasn't as strong as rest of the department. But it didn't really matter to me; I only exercised to stay in shape.

It's ironic really. John was probably the biggest guy there, and he was telling me to work out.

When I got outside, I got into my car and went back into the Hades like traffic of New York. It was boring.

Through tired determination, I managed to get to Timmy's school without screaming. As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw that Timmy was sitting alone under a yellowing tree as he always did during autumn. I didn't need to pick him up every day to know that he sat alone. If he had a friend he'd more than likely would be with them than on the yellow grass alone.

I pulled up near him, honked my horn, and surprised him a little. He looked up, and started to walk towards my car. He got in, threw his backpack in the back, and sat down on the passenger seat of my car. I didn't really mind that he sat in the front with me, but I made sure he put on his seatbelt before we drove off.

Driving to the school was harder than trying to drive back to the house. There was a shortcut that pretty much drove all the way home. I'm certain Kathleen would've used it every day to pick up Timmy, and drive back home; unfortunately, it was a one-way street.

After getting out of the unbearable traffic, I had simply taken the empty road and cruised home. I didn't have much to do but look at the empty road, so I started a conversation with Timmy.

"How're your grades?" A bit cliché, yes, but I couldn't come up with anything to make a true conversation.

"They're fine, dad," He said in his small yet innocent voice.

"Are you sure? Because the last time I checked you had a D in social studies," I said while giving him a side glance

"Well, you shouldn't expect progress immediately."

"I know I shouldn't, Timmy, and I know you're really trying hard to improve, but I don't want you to grow up like I did."

"But dad, why am I studying things that I don't even need?" He said with a mournful expression.

"Because these types of things will help you get a better life."

"But I want to be a mathematician, why do I have to study Lewis and Clark crossing the country?"

"Timmy, I know where you're coming from, I do, but these types of subjects will determine what type of jobs you can get in the future. I don't want-"

"Me to be like you, I know, but I really don't want to study these things."

"Timmy, you're growing up in a better environment than I did when I was a kid-" I looked him straight in the eyes, and told him why I wanted him to be better. "-I wasn't as privileged as you are right now, I want you to be something more than I'll ever be. It's why I always push you to go farther. I want you to-" I was cut off mid-sentence.

I should've been watching the road instead of giving a speech. A car on my left hit me head on. The sudden hit caused my head to recoil and hit the side glass window. Oh but it wasn't even over yet. Because the car was hit on its side, it was forced off the road, and had crashed head on into a tree.

I passed out before the initial impact of the tree, more than likely from head trauma.1

A couple of hours later, I was awakened by two paramedics. They were flashing their lights at my eyes, checking my head, and rapidly asking me questions. I tried my best to ignore them, and focus on anything else that didn't make my head pulsate with pain.

Eventually, after answering their stupid questions, they left me alone. They told me I was lucky my skull didn't split open, and that I had a mild concussion that should pass within a couple of hours. Before they could walk away however, I asked them 'What happened to the kid with me'

What they said sent me on edge. He was sent to the nearest hospital for intensive care. I couldn't register it immediately, but when I did it hit me like a ton of bricks. Without moving too much, I pulled out my phone and called Kathleen.

I told her that I got in a crash, and told her where I was. It only took thirty minutes for her to get to me. Without trying to irritate my brain any more than I did, I slowly got in the car and told her where Timmy was. She panicked and stomped on the gas pedal.

It was tortuous to me. Every time she made a turn, I felt like my head was going to splatter against the car's window. I heard her yelling at me; question me, asking me 'Why weren't you paying attention to the road'. I didn't bother to answer her, my head was hurt too much and her sharp turns were not helping.

We got there eventually. Kathleen parked haphazardly and ran into the hospital while I got out as painless as I could. When I got to the main doors of the hospital, I saw Kathleen at the receptionist's desk, asking her about her son.

The receptionist, known as Tod, got out of his seat and called a doctor that had looked at him. What the doctor said broke me.

"He internally bleed to death. His ribcage was broken and was forced into his intestines, lungs, and stomach. There was nothing we could do, I'm sorry for your loss," She said before walking off.

He was announced dead at 5:37 PM. I didn't know what to say. I just stared blankly at the spot the doctor was at. After what she told me, I simply ceased to function. I simply let everything go.

My hair grew into a wild mess, I took a vow of silence, I didn't talk for months, Kathleen wouldn't speak to me, I stopped going to work, and to top it all of I was sued by the other driver. None of it mattered to me, everything just went to hell. All of our money was drained from our bank accounts to repairing the car, and to the lawsuit that was put against me which I ultimately lost.

But even though we hardly had any money, Kathleen still planned a funeral. The funeral was held a month after the lawsuit was settled. Kids from his class showed up, parents, teachers, even some of my co-workers. Kathleen cried her eyes out, but I just stared. I was unemotional, I didn't say anything.

After the funeral, everything truly went to shit. I was fired because I stopped coming to work, I was sent death threats, and I was to be evicted from my home. Because I was fired, the police came and took my revolver as it was still in their custody. I didn't even try to fight them, I just let them do whatever they wanted to.

I knew that whatever there'd been between Kathleen and I was gone. She didn't say a word to me, no emotion, nothing, just packed her stuff and drove away leaving a broken man in his broken world.

The only turning point I had was when my car showed up in my driveway. Repaired and payed off, but I wasn't happy. It only served to brighten my dark future. When I was finally kicked out of my house, I had taken whatever I could and just threw it in my car. Cans of food, bottles of water, the boxes of ammo, my winter coat, my hunting rifle, anything that didn't remind me of Timmy or Kathleen. I just wanted to forget about it, all of it.

I drove out of New York, and just went anywhere. I spent many days on the road, simply reflecting on everything that had lead up to that moment. I should've gotten snow tires. I was out on the countryside, I think, and was calmly driving down the thick snowy road.

I was staring absently into the blizzard, just hopping that I at some point didn't drive off the road. But fate likes to play a cruel game. I started to drift off to the right a little so I fixed it, only to suddenly be drifting to the left. I tried to fix that, and I only started to swerve more and more. Eventually, the car decided that it didn't like the ground anymore, and rolled on its side.

I don't know what happened after that, I lost consciousness soon after.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm not sure what woke me up, the pain in my arm, or the headache in my head. Whichever did didn't matter at that moment. I was hanging upside on the inside of my car, the seat belt kept me afloat from the roof of said car. My head was spinning from all the blood that had flowed into it and my arm was blistering from the seat belt that had been more than likely carried me for hours.

I reluctantly forced my uninjured arm to the buckle of the seat, and pressed the button. I landed on my sore arm, yelping out of pain as I did. I laid motionless on the roof of my car trying to ignore the pain that flooded my body.

After a moment of stillness I finally had enough strength to crawl myself to the left side door of my car. I tried to open the door and felt it give resistance, more than likely the snow that had piled up on it.

I sat down on my ass and starting kicking the door, just hoping that it would provide enough space for me to get through. Eventually after minutes of kicking, and getting a sore leg, I finally managed to get the door open.

I crawled through the crack in the door and looked at my surroundings. Everything was as I expected, cold, dark, and ultimately snowing. But the one thing the confused me the most was that there were no tracks anywhere. You'd expect after getting into a car crash that you'd leave some sort of trail to your car, especially in the snow, but I didn't see anything. It was as if the ground wasn't touched for days.

I simply stood there for a few moments, the magnitude of the situation I was in finally getting through to me. I didn't move I was simply frozen on the spot, trying to comprehend what to do. I pulled out my cellphone, hoping that I had a connection. Of course it told me that I am out of the receiving area. Those words shook me. I was miles away from civilization, and I was stranded in the middle of nowhere.

With little options I went back inside my car and started to think as to what I would do. It was hard trying to come up with ideas. The bitter coldness from the outside was leaking inside the comforts of my car, it was distracting.

I felt my body shiver and shrivel while my mind was still looking for way that I could survive. Eventually I just abandoned the idea of brainstorming and decided to look around my car for my winter coat. I crawled around on the roof of my car, and started to rummage through it. As expected I found it a little worn out but still durable.

When I picked up the coat, I had found Timothy's backpack. I completely forgot that it was in the car. Unlike other elementary kids his backpack was big, bigger than his body if I remembered correctly. I put my coat on and looked at my son's once worn backpack.

Kathleen and I had to get him the overwhelming backpack because of how many textbooks he had to carry. A child his age shouldn't have been carrying textbooks in the first place. But it wasn't my place to decide the teachers feared that some of the other kids might've destroyed them if they stayed in the school.

With tender care, I picked up Timothy's backpack. It was still heavy and felt like a brick I didn't need to think too long before I opened it up and dumped its content out of it. While doing so, I felt something sharp poke my finger. With much more care this time I put my hand back into the backpack and pulled out a small pocket knife.

It was about three inches, had an orange handle, and was easily concealable. Since your probably wondering about the knife, I gave to Timothy on his first day of school. The neighborhood his school was in wasn't exactly the safest I had bought the blade to ensure that he had an edge if he ever got into a fight. I made him promise me that he wouldn't tell his mother.

The sheer nostalgia that the simple little thing brought was enough to bring a tear to my eye. I stuffed the knife into my back right pocket and went back to dumping the backpack. I put the then empty backpack on the side door and continued searching through the wreck of my car.

Many of the bottles of water I had in the car were either broken or weren't there. I collected what I could only having three bottles and setting them down near my backpack. I then continued my search for any sort of cans of food I could scavenge. And like before there was hardly any of it and I only managed to collect four cans and lay them near my backpack.

While looking around I managed to find my old revolver, with its holster, my hunting rifle, and the boxes of ammo spilled over. It was interesting finding them so close to each other in the carnage of what was once my car. I was incredibly befuddled I had given my gun back to PD, and yet there it was in the palm of my hand fully loaded and as menacing as ever. It confused me to no end, but I was more or less grateful that I didn't have to rely only on my rifle as my only source of protection.

With no other choice, I put my holster on and put the revolver in. I didn't know how long I'd be out there so I grabbed as many bullets as I could carry in the backpack without it being a burden, and estimated that I had at 150 bullets for each gun.

I haven't fired a gun ever since Timothy died, I more than likely got rusty, had no idea how long it would be until I saw civilization, and I had no idea how long it would be till I ate _real_ food. So I grabbed as much as I was able and stuffed my backpack with everything that I managed to find.

The backpack was slightly budging from everything that I had put In it, but despite it's massive behavior, it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be. I put the backpack on and pulled on its straps making sure that it wouldn't fall off my back. I then grabbed my rifle and threw the strap around my arm, making it lie against the backpack, and made my way out of my ruined car.

Once I was outside, I felt the iciness of the wind smack my face and felt the coldness of the snow burn my feet. I was half tempted to go back inside my car and wait for help but I knew if I did I probably wouldn't be found, and would've starved to death if the cold didn't kill me first. Without much choice I trudged through the snow, into the everlasting vastness of the cold desert

I was in that Alaskan plain for three days. I hadn't found a living soul out there, the only company I had was the blistering wind and the icy ground. You know how hard it is to sleep in a blizzard that never ends? I hadn't slept in those three days, the sounds of the winds kept me up, and coldness of the snow froze my skin.

I started seeing things after two days without sleep. I saw people out there, I thought I saw cities; I even managed to see figments of Kathleen and Timothy out there. I knew they weren't real, but that didn't stop my emotions from breaking loose. But those were the least of my concerns; I was more concerned about my physical state.

I was thankful there wasn't any hostile wild life but that didn't make my situation any better. Most of my water had turned into ice and all of my food had been frozen solid, they were useless. I survived out in that wasteland by forcing everything down my throat. I know I could survive three weeks without food, but water situation wasn't exactly helping.

I was tempted to eat the snow, and I did, but it didn't exactly end well for my mouth. When I bit into the cold treat, I felt my tongue burst into flames and my mouth cry in agony. The bitter coldness of the ice had nearly frostbitten my tongue and left my mouth to burn.

It didn't look good for me, yet somehow I managed to find train tracks, and while it may not be a safe haven, they paved the road to one. I had followed those tracks as best as I could in the snow and eventually after three days of restlessness, coldness, and starvation I had finally found a sliver of hope.


	3. Chapter 3

I was thankful that I managed to get out of that frozen tundra, and didn't stray too far from the tracks, but after that I had a different problem. When I got out of there, it was like the weather had bipolar disorder. It was freezing cold one second and scorching hot the next. I was too exhausted to understand the impossibility of what happened, so I just went with it.

I took off my jacket and kept on walking, basically dragging it along with me. I kept walking, and walking, and walking... and walking. I probably walked for hours, but I didn't notice it. Time flew by me in my tired state, and I had lost sense of time at that point.

Eventually, after walking for god knows how long, I found a floating castle. I stared at it for a while, but I eventually marked it down as an illusion, or a hallucination. Floating castles. _What, are the clouds solid?_. I ignored it and continued to follow the tracks, which didn't last long. Somewhere along the way, I had lost the track, and had ended up in some strange forest.

It was quite threatening to be in a forest with such thick foliage that the sun couldn't shine through. I was scared, but that didn't slow me down, for it made me start walking faster. After three days of sleeplessness, hunger and thirst, I finally got to rest. There was no warning, no signal, nothing; I just passed out where I stood.

* * *

A few hours after I had fallen into that blissful sleep, I felt something claw at my back. I immediately assumed it was a bear, or some hostile animal, and laid motionless. I wanted it to think I was dead so it would leave me be. But to my own fear, I felt its large paws continue to claw at my back. I felt the animal put more pressure on me, almost till the point where it almost got unbearable. But just as I was about to scream, I heard 'something' else.

I had been in the police department, and as such I knew the sound of a canine, but that . . . 'thing' was so foreign to me. After hearing it yelp, I felt the weight on my back disappear, then heard the mystery animal run back through the forests thicket.

I waited around for ten minutes to see if that animal would come back, but when it didn't, I got back on my feet and ran for my life. It's hard running in the pitch blackness of night, where the forest's thick canopy and its dark presence made it truly terrifying for me to move.

But with my options limited as they were, I had no choice but to run. I managed to move between the thick stumps of those trees, but it didn't make it any better for me. I ran for a couple of minutes before I finally slumped onto my knees and rested.

I had no idea if that beast had followed me or not, but it gave me a sense of security to be away from it for a while. I waited a few minutes, and I calmed myself as best as I could, then proceeded to slowly walk through the dark forest.

I shuffled through the thick grass of the forest, scared that something would pop out at me. That was until I came to the parting of trees which led to the beautiful sight of the moon shining down on a flowing river. I waddled over to the river, fell on my knees, and indulged myself into its sweet properties.

I refilled those bottles of water that I had, as the river had undoubtedly cleaned the water. After gulping down copious amounts of water, I pushed myself off the river bank and rested against its damp ground. My wet hair had clung to the brow of my head as I laid on the cold ground, letting the night air run smoothly over my skin.

While I rested I started to look back on my journey, and started to think about everything that happened. The more I looked back, the more and more I started to question reality. My trusty revolver shouldn't have been with me, the truck didn't leave any tracks, and the weather had been turned on its head. All these things made me start questioning my own sanity.

Above all that, it was the night sky that made me certain that I was seeing things. I could just tell by looking at its purple hue, its magnificent collection of stars, and the size and brightness of the moon that it was a cosmic impossibility. My mind pulsated with curiosity as to what my eyes were telling it. I thought that my eyes were deceiving me, as they had when I was in the cold desert, but nothing can cause a hallucination like that.

I knew what I saw, but my brain refused to accept it. I decided that if I were to think about it any further my brain would probably collapse from mental exhaustion, so I went back to simply enjoying the night air caress my bare skin. The cooling feel of it soothed me into the blissfulness of sleep.

* * *

I felt the rays of the sun poke at my skin which ultimately woke up. Ever so slowly I got up off the ground, stretching and yawning as the bones in my body cracked back into place. My body was in pure bliss, my mind was clear, and I felt like I could die happy on that spot. I haven't slept that well in months, everything just felt so peaceful and serene in that moment of nothingness.

And, like everything else in my life, it was taken away from me. I heard the sound of someone a horse clopping it's hooves on dirt. Almost out of pure instinct, I ran towards the sound of it. Horses didn't usually hang around thick forests, and the only time they would was if someone had forced them into said forest, as far as I knew that horse probably had a human companion.

I had ran towards its sound, even with the blisters that were forming on my feet, I didn't stop until I had tumbled out of the forests bushes. With a yelp and a gallop I knew that I had scared the horse off, along with its companion. I begrudgingly stood up and stared at the direction they had ran to.

They left deep marks in the dirt that they had ran upon. I knew I had to follow the steps they left; I just hoped that they ran into a safer area. With that mindset, I started to follow the hoofprints it had left. While walking, I realized that I had forgotten my winter jacket. I thought about going back there and getting it, but I then realised that I would probably loose myself in the thickness of the forest if I went back. I hesitantly kept following the tracks to where that horse were going, but I had no idea what I was getting into.

* * *

Eventually after following their tracks, I saw the trees canopy split open and felt the suns gaze shine down upon my dirt ridden body. It was almost calming, in a way. I took myself away from the sun's rays, and looked around the open field that I had walked into.

Its green grass was tamed and was blown with the cool wind. I knew I was in domesticated land when I saw the grass, and I was right. About a mile or two away from where I was, I could see a bustling village with enough horses and buildings to be considered civilization.

To me it was the most beautiful thing that I had seen in months; I was so delighted to see it. But I couldn't even get a step in before I heard a sudden yell.

"There it is!" Its voice was childlike and was so high pitched that I swear my eardrums almost bursted.

I swiveled around and caught a glimpse of a small pink colored horse with a tiara on its head printed on its hindquarters. Next to her I could see another small horse, about her size, colored in silver, wearing glasses, and had a silver spoon printed on its flank.

But as baffled as I was by their existence, what happened next truly made me want to rethink my life.

"Wait up girls! We shouldn't be this close to the Everfree, who knows-" A horse taller than the other two had come up behind them. Her purple fur, dark purple hair, her flank mark of a star, and the horn on her head had left me speechless. It was like my mind was in a trance, unable to escape the prison that was built around it. But that didn't stop her from getting in front of the smaller horses and telling them to get help.

My brain lurched; it was unable to accept what I just saw. A small little horse had just spoken English as if it was its first language. I snapped out of whatever spell my mind had put on itself and decided that the most reasonable option was to run back into the forest. And I did. She yelled at me and told me to stop running, but I obviously ignored her and kept running further into the forest.

As soon as I was certain that I had lost her, I had fallen on my knees and started to hyperventilate. My mind kept telling me what I saw was impossible, but my eyes told me a different story. I wasn't sure what to think. This was all insane, and maybe I had truly lost my sanity.


	4. Chapter 4

I was shaking, shivering in utter confusion at hearing an animal speak English to me. It truly made me begin to question if anything I had seen was real. I wanted to wake up, wake up from that cruel dream my mind had conjured up. I began to smack myself, trying and ultimately failing at doing anything but making my face red with pain.

As I was about to smack myself again, I heard the shuffling of branches behind me. I paused, looked at its direction, and started to run again. I don't know if it was the horse that spoke to me, a random animal, or a predator, but I just ran. I wanted to get away from whatever insane world that I was in.

I don't know how far I ran; all I know is that I didn't stop until I came into a clearing. What I saw was… interesting, to say the least. I saw rows upon rows of apple trees all lined up together in even more rows. I wouldn't think twice about it if it wasn't for the fact they defied the laws of physics.

Their trunks were too small to be carrying as many apples as they were, they should've been bending over by the weight of its own apples, and yet it was standing mighty and tall. I walked up to one of them and admired the glistening apples it held on itself. And, while I wanted to admire them, my stomach had other ideas. It was the first piece of food that I've seen in three days, and I didn't want to pass that up.

I gorged myself with tremendous amounts of apples. I bit into one after the other, just trying to fill my stomach. I didn't bother to truly taste it; I was too damn hungry to think about the taste the fruit held.

After eating god knows how many, I slumped against one of the apple trees with a big mighty smile plastered on my face. I had never been so happy to be overstuffed with food. I was about to pull out one of my water bottles to drink up, but I saw one of those ponies of the hill.

I couldn't see much of it from how far we were from each other, but I'm certain that it had a bright red mane. I heard a scream and then it ran. I didn't even bother to wait; I got off the ground and started to go deeper into the field of apples.

After I was certain I had put enough distance between me and the spot I was in, I just walked through the field of apples, occasionally looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being followed, and felt like I was a peace.

I walked for a while until I saw a big red barn. But, being the suspicious man that I was, I pulled out my rifle and looked down the scope to see if there were any of them there. I determined that no one was there after looking over the building for five minutes, and decided to make myself at home.

As I got closer to the establishment, I saw that there was a bit of rust building up on the metal and tiny pieces of wood sticking out of it. I cautiously opened the door and peered inside and was thankful that no one was there. I saw piles of hay on the floor, and tools on the walls.

I ignored most of it though, leaving the door wide open, and walked up to mutilated tools that were on the back wall. They weren't broken, per say, but they weren't normal. I knew what they were, or were supposed to be, but the way they looked like they were made for something else. Hedge trimmers, for instance, had big holes in the handles, and pliers looked like they had teeth marks.

The only tool that wasn't dented in some strange way was the hatchet that was there. It looked like it was hardly used because the metal on wasn't chipped, it didn't help that it had gathered dust.

I picked up the hatchet and looked at it; making most of the dusts on it fall off. It had a straight thick wooden handle that was covered in rubber, and a nice thickly sharp piece of metal on its end. I'll be honest, it felt good.

I was about to give it a test drive on one of the apple trees out there, but I heard voices coming my way. I immediately put the axe back, and looked for someplace to hide. When I saw that I could hide in one of the hay piles, I did exactly that. I ran into one of them and burrowed myself deep into its itchy surface. Since I couldn't do anything else, I decided to remain silent and listen to the conversation that was ever so slightly coming my way.

"Ah'm tellin ya the truth, I saw a thang out there! It was eating all of our apples," I heard the cry of a little southern girl say.

"Apple Bloom, while ah know yer telling the truth, ya can't drag me down to the edge of our farm to show me ya saw somethang eating our apples," Said another girl in an annoyed southern tone.

"But, what if it comes back, who knows what it'll do!"

"Look, ya probably scared the varmint off. There's no need to worry Apple Bloom- did you leave the barn door open?"

"No."

"Probably Big Mac, he always forgets to close it."

"But Applejack, what if-"

"No more 'buts'! Now can ya stop yer blabbering and help me move the apple bushels inta the barn," Though my sight was blinded, I was able to hear them enter the barn and plant something solid on the ground.

"Apple Bloom, ah appreciate yer concern, ah do, but ah can't stop bucking trees during Applebuck season."

"... I understand."

"Good, now help me get the rest of 'em in 'ere-"

"Applejack!" I heard the already open barn door slam into its side and heard a familiar voice accompany it. I should know since it was the one that belonged to a certain purple horse.

"What in tarnation are ya doing, Twilight?"

"Applejack, I need your help to gather the girls, something tried to kill Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon!" Before I knew what was happening, I heard two sets of hooves gallop outside of the barn and into the distance.

"Now ah have ta put the apples in the barn myself. This is gonna take forever!" I heard the little clip-clop of her hooves trudge against the ground, and eventually out of my range of hearing.

When I was certain that I was alone, I more or less threw off any hay that was on me. I released the breath that I was holding, grabbed the axe, and walked through the open barn door. I put the axe on the left side of my hip,using my belt to keep it in place. Without anything much left to do, I started to walk again. Oh, but how fate was a cruel mistress.


	5. Chapter 5

I walked for about ten minutes around the farm, enjoying the serene sounds of the leaves bending to the winds voice. That was until I heard a pair of arguing voices. I looked around me for a hiding spot, but I couldn't find one shred of solitude.

And as I was about to run, I saw their heads peek over the hill. I saw the color of that pony's dark blue mane and the cowboy hat on the one that accompanied her.

"Please Applejack, we need to hurry!"

"Ah'm sorry Twilight, ah had to check up on Granny Smith! She's gettin' on in 'er age an'-!"

"Applejack, we don't have time to argue! That monster could be attacking Ponyville as we speak! Come on, I'm sure if we hurry-" I'm not going to sugar coat it for you, they saw me. And before I knew it, 'Applejack' had pulled a lasso from nowhere and flung it at me. I did the one thing I've been doing all day. Run. I ran perpendicular to the rope and went further into the apple farm.

I knew I had a momentary head start, but I knew they were going to easily catch up with me, since they were ponies. I ran as fast as I possibly could and yet I still felt a piece of rope circle itself around my neck and choke me. Dust kicked up when I was forced onto the ground and was dragged as I tried to get air into my lungs.

I pulled the axe out of its homemade holster, and swung randomly at the direction I was being pulled at. I was lucky I managed to cut the rope in one of my many swings, but it didn't stop the feeling of utter terror I felt.

I had rushed myself onto my feet and started running again, with a small piece of rope dangling around my neck. I heard the sounds of hooves galloping in my direction, and the sounds of electricity sparking.

I thought I had a pretty good lead, but I was proven wrong when I felt the rope contract around my neck. I was incredibly confused, I thought I cut it and yet I still felt it enclose around my neck. I tried to grab for the rope but I felt the emptiness of air. I looked behind me to see a purple aura around the small piece of the rope that I didn't take off, and saw 'Twilight' with the same aura around her horn. I didn't need to be a detective to put two and two together. Being in my air deprived head, I ripped out my cocked back revolver and shot at her.

I immediately felt release on my throat and pulled the rest of the rope off before looking behind me. I saw the small purple unicorn on the ground, crying, holding her left arm. Blood oozed out of her small, frail, body which ultimately stained her crisp purple fur. Her friend on the other hand was lying on the ground. Her eyes shut tight and hooves holding her ears down. Taking the advantage I had, in started to run again.

And ran I did. I ran past the acres of apples and through the thick border of the forest. I stopped soon after, and took a small breather before I took out my gun. I took out the bullet I had recently fired and tossed it onto the ground before replacing the empty slot with non-fired round.

But as soon as I put the gun back, I heard a set of galloping hooves again.

"YA FILTHY VARMINT!"

I didn't need any more motivation. I started to run again. I made my way past the thick trunks of trees and threw any sort of debris I could find behind me. But no matter how long I'd used that tactic, I always heard those hooves getting closer and closer. Eventually I found my way into a clearing of the forest, and thought I was home free.

But I was wrong. Instead of finding sanctuary, I found the edge of a cliff. I skidded to a halt, and looked down the abyss. Below the steep cliff was a raging river with jagged rocks. Past the cliff there was another ledge that was a couple feet down probably twenty feet away. I thought that was the end of the line, it should've been. Maybe things would have turned out different, possibly for the better. But instead, I went a couple of feet back, ran as fast as my tired legs would let me before I jumped as hard as I could.

My chest slammed into the cold rocky earth and my hands clawed at the rocky ground for anything I could use as leverage. But try as I might, I couldn't find anything to grab onto. Instead I clutched my hands onto the skin piercing cliff.

I tried to pull myself up but the backpack was too heavy, my legs were giving out on me, and my hands were blistering with the rocks that had pierced them. I tried pulling myself up with nothing but brute force, but I guess the ledge couldn't hold my weight. I felt my only support start to crack above me, and in my desperate situation I tried to grab for something else but everything around me was nothing but slanted rock. Finally, the cliff had enough and broke away from its mantle on the ground, and allowed my body to fall into the bottomless ravine

I thought that was the end of the line for me, that my body would crushed by the broken rock. That my head would be splattered across the gorging spikes that dotted the river. But you wouldn't be reading this if I did. I fell in head first through the icy waters. A cool feeling of the water washed over me, chilling me to the bone. Though I was frozen, I managed to swim back up to the surface.

The river kept pushing me back and forth and under the water. My ragged breath and exhausted legs only making my struggle to stay afloat more unbearable. And through my struggle against the watery death pit, God must've heard my prayer as a long heavy log was ahead of me. I dug my hands into the wooden surface, and lurched my tired body over the well worn log. In my moment of sheer exhaustion, I looked back up at the rocky cliff I just jumped off of and saw a pair of the most angriest eyes I've ever seen in my life. I've had people stare menacingly at me before, Kathleen being one of them, but I've never seen that much hate and malice in one's eyes before.

We just stared at each other, waiting for the other to give an excuse to start a fight. But it didn't happen. Instead the log carried me away from her stare and near a calm bank of sand. I let go of the log and forced my legs to endure a little bit more for me before I rested on my knees.

My body was soaking wet, my hair clung to my face, my clothes stuck to my body, and my legs were exhausted. But I pushed on. I kept walking until I found a small rudimentary cave on the side of a small mountain. Being the only piece of shelter around me, I walked up to it. It was a difficult struggle for me to get up the slanted piece of rock. I was exhausted, completely spent from my day of exertion. But once I finally got through the small gaping hole, I could do nothing but lay down against its cool walls and think of my day.

And the more I looked back on it, the more and more I felt disturbed.

I was forced from a world of filled with people, my people, to suddenly be dropped into a world with talking horses. I was confused, I was scared, I felt so alone.

But with the events of the day coming to an end, I could do nothing more but rest my eyes and hope that'd I would escape from this terrible realm.

I never felt more alien in my life.


	6. Chapter 6

_I watched planes land and fly off into the distance. Heard the sound of thousands of footsteps walking past me. The sound of a crying child in my arms as I tried to calm him down as best as I could._

 _I handed the small baby boy off to a pretty little girl on my left, and allowed her to try her best to calm him down. Her brown hair and entrancing brown eyes held my attention._

 _"You really should have payed attention in Ms. Whitaker's class," The girl said. I stared at her euphorically, and did nothing but look at her until I heard another voice._

 _"Mr. Conner."_

 _When I looked back forward I saw a real estate agent talking to me._

 _The girl on my left was listening attentively at the words of the agent. I tried to listen in, but all I could here were silent muffles coming out of her mouth. The agent then led us to the house and allowed us to go in first. Once we were inside, I saw our furniture all planted around the humble abode._

 _"James," I heard the sweet little voice behind me say._

 _"Stay safe out there, I don't want you getting hurt," The pretty little girl said. Her face had changed. It wasn't small and cute anymore. It was long and elegant. I looked down at myself to see that I was wearing a police uniform with all the gadgets and such that would be strapped onto it._

 _"Daddy!" I heard a rapid set of feet behind me before they suddenly clung to my leg. I was about to pick the boy up, but the girl did that for me instead. The kid couldn't have been older than four at the time, but I didn't focus on him. I was being dragged to the door by an unknown force, and was looking at the two being slowly pulled away from me. And before I knew it, I was outside the door and headed to a blue car parked on my driveway._

 _Once I was inside, I started the engine and was about to back out when I heard another voice again._

 _"Me to be like you, I know, but I don't want to study these things," said a boy on my right._

 _I was about to respond to him, but I looked down at myself to see that I was wearing a long blue sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans. I then slowly looked to my left just in time for a car to hit me head on._

My eyes slowly opened to the sound of dripping water. A couple of feet to my left I could see a small puddle being formed by small droplets of water that had creeped from a crack that ceiling above. I then looked around the dark cave that I had claimed and, as I expected, was still barren of life. Shortly after my observation, I looked outside the small gaping hole that I was sleeping near.

Outside, I could see the sun slowly rising over the horizon and pecking the trees with kisses of light. I was a bit surprised that I was waking up at the crack of dawn, I usually woke up before the sky would even light up. It was a habit I developed after a year on the P.D.

I could do nothing more but stare up at the celestial body slowly craning over the landscape. It made me feel at peace for a time, soothing my frantic mind and soothing my warming my cold body. But as I was being bathed in sunlight, my mind began to wonder again. I started to think of how I got into this mess, and I let my mind conjure impossible theories. Such things as being teleported here, wormholes, the world exploding, time travel, a hole in the ground, resurrection, the list goes on.

But none of it made any sense. Honestly, teleportation? It's inconceivable.

But as I was questioning as to how I was brought into this domain, my digestive system began to stir and rumble. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten so many apples. I fell onto my hands and vomited out liquefied garbage all over the rocky floor.

Around a minute had passed until my stomach stopped pumping out all the apples I ate. I then, ever so slowly, got on my slightly wobbling feet. But as my body felt rejuvenated, my feet felt fractured.

I feel back onto the cold ground and groaned in pain. My feet felt like they were being torn apart, and my legs couldn't have been in any more pain. I slowly took one of my shoes off to reveal a disgusting dark colored sock that was inside and of it.

I then pulled the sock off with some restraint to show blisters that had surrounded the underside of my foot. I don't know how I didn't feel it sooner, but it seemed my brain finally registered the bloody things that were festering on my foot. I no sooner pulled off my shoe and sock on my other foot to see that it was dripping with pus.

I sat there for a while, basking in the unholy pain that plagued my feet. Every single time my toes flinched, it felt like my feet was being sawed off. It was excruciating, but somewhat bearable. Somewhat.

I ever so carefully put my shoes and socks back on, and started to crawl out of the cave. My hands clung to the ground and my arms pulled me with fervor as my useless legs were dragged behind me.

I had the smart idea to dunk my feet into the river to help them cooldown. I pulled myself through muck and dirt through grim and stain, but I eventually got back to the bank of that river.

But before I could even take my shoes off I heard growling in the distance. I looked around me to see if I was in imminent danger, but I didn't see anything. Yet as I turned my head back forward I saw a massive creature past the running currents of the water.

In the distance, imposing of power and command stood an intimidating animal. Its lion head, dragon like body, and scorpion tail was all the more threatening. He looked at me as predator would its prey and began growling again. It paced back and forth on the other side of the river it stood upon, looking for a way to get to me. I knew I was safe from it; the cold waters would have sunk it under if it attempted to cross.

But as it stared me down and let the time slip by, another sound came further in the distance. It sounded near similar to the thing that was looking at me, yet it was higher pitched. As soon as the creature heard that noise, it made a b-line to it, completely forgetting that I existed.

It was an interesting experience to see a predatorial animal stare me down only to go away. It was confusing, but interesting.

I then went back to the task of getting my feet in the water, looking behind me every now and then. I set my foot ware on the side and warily set my feet into the brisk waters.

It stung like hell when I first put them in, but after a minute or so it wasn't even noticeable. So there I sat, my feet buried in water and the sun tanning my skin. I sat there for a while letting my mind explore the vastness of questions that it held.

I took my backpack off and looked inside to see if I could do anything to pass the time. The only that I found were the water bottles and the many bullets that were in there.

With nothing else to do, I laid the backpack behind me and used it as a pillow as I looked up into the sky. I saw the leaves of trees dance in the winds, and counted the clouds that passed above me. I don't know how long I stayed there, but I do know that by the time I stopped the sun reached its peak in the sky.

I daintily pulled my feet out of the water and put them back into their blanket of comfort. I then carefully got up on my feet, and started to limp back to the cave. The pain much more bearable, but it still hurt to walk. And since I couldn't get medical help, I had to try the next best thing.

But as I was scaling up the inclined slope, I couldn't help but notice how I reacted to that animal. I should've been panicking at seeing such a foreign creature looking at me like food. I'm not certain if my mind has come to accept that I was in a different reality, or if I was truly going insane.

It disturbed me to such a degree that I couldn't think of anything. But as I sat on the cold ground of that barren cave, I began to think of all the choices I've made. Maybe shooting that pony wasn't the smartest idea in the world.

They more than likely thought I was a dangerous thing thing. I could've just gone there and turned myself in, and apologized to the pony I shot.

Truthfully, what else could I have done? If I stayed in there, in that godforsaken forest, I would more than likely die. I just saw a monstrous animal hunting for food; I was more than likely going to be the next on its menu.

It was either I stayed in that forest and be eaten, or I go to that insane world and live. I didn't have any other choice. With that in mind I stood back up and walked through the slums of the forest.


	7. Chapter 7

I walked through the forest my aching feet pestering me about its pain as I looked around me to make sure I was safe. I walked through the crowded trees and muddy ground as my clothes built up grime and crud. Though my journey through the thick waving trees went unperilous, my mind was still sporadic.

Now that I knew what type of things lived within that forest, I couldn't help but get worried. The thick leaves that blocked out the sun did nothing more but cement the forbidding feeling that cradled in my chest.

It constantly blinded my vision and caused me to fall so many times that I lost count. I knew what general direction to go, but I had no idea how to get there. I walked up grassy hills and shimmed down rocky slopes, but I still didn't feel any closer to that town.

As far as I knew, I was walking in circles for those few hours. But all of it paid off in the end when I limpingly strode out of the thick outline of the forest. The sun had set far into the horizon, but that was the least of my concerns.

I looked around and I could see a giant gap within the earth. The cliff that I was closest to was uneven and jagged while the cliff that was the farthest from pointed and narrow. The gap that split the crust of the ground had a raging river riding through it. It was then that I realized that it was the spot I fell from.

I was happy for some time, only to realize that I was on the complete opposite side of where I wanted to be. I looked further down the river to see how far I had to go, but all I could see was a great winding path of the massive river.

I then dropped onto my ass, and muffled out my frustrations. But as I was swearing to the hands of fate, I began to notice the sun was eerily dripping beneath the horizon. Realization struck me when it became apparent that I was nowhere near any sort of shelter.

With what I experienced just a couple hours ago, I did NOT want be out in the middle of the night.

I no sooner got back onto my feet and began to pathetically run back into the wooden troughs of the forest. I hadn't even run for ten seconds before I tripped on some ridiculous object that wrapped itself around my foot. I looked down at my trapped leg and saw a lantern holding me down to the ground.

I pulled my foot out of its confined trap, and took the lantern in my hands. It looked like any old green lantern would, the only difference being that it had a sleeker design. I turned it this way and that to make sure that it was in good condition before I turned the small nozzle that was attached to its side. The thing lit a small flame inside of its glass prison, allowing me to see through the darkness that was dawn.

I turned it off immediately and had an idea. I knew I couldn't go back to that hole in the wall; it would be too dangerous to go at night and too exhausting to go back. I got up again and headed back to the empty cliff that I had plummeted from yesterday. I put the lantern on the ground, and went back into the forest.

By that point the sun had enveloped a dark purple hue, and was quickly turning into a forbidden black. I gathered as many sticks and branches as I could carry before I waddled back to the clearing. I laid some of them in a teepee shape, and laid the rest on the side. I then grabbed the lamp and looked at its exterior for a way to get to the oil.

By that moment in time the moon was slowly peaking over the horizon, ready to take its sister's place in the sky. The forest had darkened itself to a drastic degree, and was getting darker by the second. As I felt the seconds tick by, I couldn't help but panic even further. I reached into my pocket and pulled out an orange handled pocket knife, and proceeded to pick at any hole that it could fit in.

I prodded and scratched at the bottom of the lantern, hoping I would find some hole that I could rip open for oil. But as I was scratching the surface of the lantern, I heard the sounds of howling in the distance. I panicked even further and was about to slam it against the ground in a fit of rage. But with a twist of my wrist the bottom of the lantern opened to reveal a small pool of oil within its metal confinements. I was lucky that I didn't get any on me.

I was glad for a couple seconds but I was quickly knocked out of my stupor by the sounds of bushes rustling behind me. I pulled out my revolver and took aim behind me, but all that was there was a bunny scurrying behind me. I ignored it and decided to go back to working on my plan. I grabbed the bottom of the lantern with care and elegancy before I dumped some of its contents onto the teepee of sticks that I had made.

I then grabbed a couple rocks and started to bang them against each other. They clashed and clattered, but no matter how many times I tried getting a spark, I would be met with either sore fingers or small pebbles. The sky had almost completely blackened as the only source of light left was diminishing further beneath the crest of the earth.

I had nearly given up when I decided to grab my hatchet and hit it against the now broken rock. The next thing I knew a large fire had enveloped the entirety of my vision. I jumped back from the scalding flames, and watched them dance with wind. I jumped into the sky with joy only to fall on my back as my feet collapsed onto the ground.

And even though my back was aching with pain, I could do nothing but smile at the flames that had given light in my dark situation.

There I sat on the cliff huddling against the now low flames as I tried to stay warm. I would slowly breathe in and out, watching as the fog from my breath would dissipate in the air. My body shaking and shivering as it tried to form heat. Snot running down my nose as my body shivered.

I wasn't able to sleep; every time I tried I would involuntarily shake as the cold air would brush my skin. I knew that the forest would be colder than that cave was, but I did not expect it to be as cold as it was. It reminded me of those days that I spent walking in that cold dessert. The only difference is that I didn't question my sanity at that time.

I wasn't huddling over a fire with my feet pulsating in pain. I wasn't confusing reality with imagination. I wasn't questioning if I should make amends with ponies.

I was brought out of my mental conflict by a heavy growl coming behind the flames I took refuge behind. My cold shaking right hand reached for my revolver as I scanned the environment around me. As I raised my gun, I could only hear more growls getting closer to me.

I grabbed a couple of sticks and put them in the fire to help me see, but I got another reaction out of it instead. I heard a more vicious snarl and some whimpers behind it. That's what got me curious. I grabbed a big thick branch that hasn't been lit yet and put the tip of it in the small fire.

As soon as the tip of it was alight with fire, I pushed myself off the cold ground and proceeded to walk closer to the sound I heard the growling coming from. My revolver still raised and the torch down on my side as I was slowly edging closer to the outlining of the pitch black forest. As soon as I was close enough to the small lining of the trees, I pulled the small ball of fire up and stared in awe.

I saw pure yellow pupil-less eyes peering at me with hate and intent. Its body was covered in bulks of wood, from its teeth to its tail. I could hardly see it with my small light, but there it stood defensive and ready to pounce.

As I was about to carefully walk back to my small fire, I saw more eyes popping out of the darkness, one after another all with the same sickening yellow color. I drew the torch closer to myself and slowly walked backwards towards my camp. Once I was back at my 'safe haven', I dropped the torch on the burning pile of wood, and proceeded to sit on the ground with a slack jaw.

I had just seen an animal, as far as I know, made entirely of wood. How? I still ask myself to this day. Nature is a mysterious thing. Able to evolve apes into humans, and able to make a fish breath underwater. But never in my life would I think nature would transform wood into an agent of chaos.

My mind rambled to itself over and over again, but it was for not. A sudden scream behind me had pulled me from my wavering mind, and I could do nothing but stare into the distance of where it came from. It was on the other side of the cliff too distorted and low to identify it as anything. So I simply looked on in its direction, and waited for the sound to die out.

As soon as it ended, I huddled back closer to my fire and hoped that I would make it till morning.


	8. Chapter 8 (Part 1)

There I sat in caution and worry as I watched the lining of the dark forest for anything that moved out of place. There I sat in wonder and mystery as the world around me ticked away the minutes. There I sat with my eyes heavy and stature falling as I waited for dawn to strike the horizon.

And as the sun rose over the crest, all I could do was stare emptily into it. I felt its cold rays of light bend over and around my body, as if I didn't exist. The calming sight soothed me as I started to stand up. Only for my left leg to buckle underneath itself as I screamed in pain. I looked down my leg to see what was causing me so much pain, but it looked completely fine.

I thought for one second what was wrong before I started to take off my shoe. And low and behold, my foot was covered in bloodied blisters. I put my footwear back on and felt my foot give out a cry of agony. It was painful, but I had to tough through it. After my little incident with my foot, I pushed myself back up and tried to walk only to fall back down on my side.

I kept pushing myself up for the hope that I would be able to walk through the foliage of the forest, but I kept falling right back on my face with every attempt. And after attempt after attempt, I soon stopped trying to walk and looked around me to see how I could get off the edge. But I was soon distracted with the sound of sticks and brush breaking. I heard the colossal steps of crunching wood slowly making its way towards me.

I looked up at the forest that was in front of me, and stared in horror as I saw the wooden anomalies marching their way out of their green fortress. I saw three of them take heap outside of the green fortress, and looked at them as they slowly pulled themselves to me. During this, I slowly pulled out my revolver with as much care as I could and took aim at the one.

One of them, the leader I assume, stopped and looked at me for a second before continuing towards me. So with my life in the balance I could only take one immediate action. I steadied my aim, pulled back the hammer, and held my breath as I shot the one closest to me in the head. The reaction was near instantaneous. Its body fell onto the floor and scattered into a million pieces as its allies whimpered.

I then re-aimed my gun to the next closest predator and tried to kill it the same way. [i]Tried[/i] being the word. I missed it and it knocked itself out of its daze and ran at me with full force. So I shot at it again and managed to scrape a piece of its leg. Its leg bent in a heinous way as it tried to stop itself from moving forward. But in its attempts at stopping, it managed to fall right past me and into the abyss of the canyon. The third one had gotten too close for comfort and was almost in biting distance. So I aimed my revolver and shot at it twice in hopes that I would kill it. I was wrong.

While I did hit it, all I seemed to do was piss it off more. I dropped the revolver and more or less swung my rifle around me and took aim at the wolf. At that point it couldn't have been a few feet away. I'm lucky I survived. I aimed at its gaping maw that was ready to rip my neck out, and pulled the trigger. Its body scattered into a thousand wooden pieces as I covered my head from any collateral damage.

Soon after the fighting for my right to live, I looked back up to see what was left. And, as I expected, saw small sticks and wooden branches laid on the floor, signifying the recent events that happened. No sooner I pulled my backpack off and reloaded my weapons as I studied the edge of the forest for any other threats. After reloading my weapons and zipping back my backpack, I went back to looking around me for a way to get out of there.

That was before I realized that I had thousands of wooden branches around me. I grabbed the biggest bulkiest branch that was near me, pushed myself up, and started to use it as a cane. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but with my options, limited as they were, it was the only choice I could make.

So, with little left to do, I started to take head into the forest, with my revolver out for extra protection. I should have said stayed on that rock. I would have starved to death, but I would have taken it over the events that would transpire long after.

After an hour or two of 'walking', sweat was pouring down my face. My shirt had since turned from grimy beige to a drenched black. My head was spinning, and my body was limping as I continued to walk further into the graveyard.

My sore hand was covered in splinters from my walking stick, my arm remained stiff and tensed as it pointed ahead of me with my revolver, and my feet were faltering at the slightest touch. The sweat of my brow kept dripping into my eyes causing my vision to blur and turn hazy. My body was exhausted from a night of restlessness and I was shaking from pure, unadulterated, fear.

And at some point of walking tirelessly through the green hellhole, I felt a sharp prick pierce my back. I stopped in my tracks entirely and pulled out the stinging pain that penetrated it. I looked at my hand and saw a small little dart in my hand and panicked a little before I began to calm down immensely.

I felt the caresment of the winds wrap itself around my body as I felt my mind became hazy and mellow. I looked upon the brown bark of the trees and watched it bend and swerve with the blowing winds. It felt as if I was having an out of body experience. I guess that's why I 'passed out' the second right afterwards. I'm not certain if passed out is the right term for it, but it's the only word I could come up with since if felt as though I was about to fall asleep.

"Remin' me not ta piss ya off," I heard a man with a southern drawl say as I heard footsteps get closer to me. I then heard a hum of acknowledgement and felt something lift me from behind and lay me on something. I couldn't tell, my body was numbing from the foreign entity that was inside of it.

"Ya know wha this reminds me of? Reminds me of this time where me buddy and me went out hunting. And let me tell ya' it mussa been a hundred outside 'cause after a minute of walking through mud 'n shit, we's was sweating up buckets of sweat before we finally found this big ol' proud buck munching on grass. And as we's was about to-"

"Can this wait?" I heard a woman say in an irritated voice.

"Alright, no need ta get all huffy 'n puffy about it," the southern man replied before I finally felt them move. And while all of this was happening, I could only listen to my environment as my body refused to function properly. Not another word was exchanged between them as they carried me for miles on end.

But the rocking of the hammock and the gentleness of the wind rocked me to sleep like baby in a crib.

 _I looked over the small hills in the ground at my house. I was outside with a small short plastic shovel in my small short arms. I was no more than five digging up dirt and mixing it with water that was inside of my blue bucket. I planted the bucket down on the soft, warm, summer grass and pulled it up._

 _After lifting the small bucket with a great amount of effort, I saw a castle emerge of mud emerge from inside. Being the age that i was, I was absolutely giddy at my accomplishment. That was until I felt the ground underneath me shake._

 _The earth seemed to shake more and more as I looked around confused. I felt the vibrations of rocks being smashed into the ground, and heard the sounds of the ground cracking under pressure. It wasn't until I looked up to see a thousand foot man looming over me with an annoyed gazed._

 _Merly moments after staring at each other, I felt him breath in a massive amount of air into his gigantic body. I felt the air around me being drained into his mouth as I looked up in fear._

 _But after a minute of his massive maw taking in the air around me, I saw his body rippling with the amount of oxygen in him. He suddenly snapped his eyes at me and proceeded to scream out every single atom of air at me._

 _I felt my body being forced onto the ground and felt the castle that I proudly built being destroyed around me. I tried to stand up, but every time I did, I felt his alcoholic breath shove me back down onto the ground._

 _All I could do was endure the tournament as the thousand foot man continued to howl his angers of virtue unto me._

 _But even though I was pushed and punished, I managed to peek my eyes open and saw the strangest of sight in the sky. Up through the brightened sky I could see the stars in the form of a horse's head._

 _Its giant head moved this way and that in a curious state as it observed the scene before it. But just as it was about to descend upon me, I was blown away into the black matter of my mind. It wasn't until my eyes started burning that I finally woke up from that nightmare._


	9. Chapter 8 (Part 2)

It was a simple light in my eyes that woke me up. It shines this way and that the way a doctor would look over their patient.

"Seems alright so far," I heard a man of intellect say as my eye was blinded.

"No trauma, bones are in place, we'll have to take care of that foot. Though from a physical standpoint, everything else is completely fine. We'll have to wait and see if he's sick with anything," He said as I felt my eyelid clamp shut. I heard him move around my body, grab something, and then felt my arm being swabbed with some sort of wet cloth as he continued to talk to himself

I was scared for my life, obviously. I didn't know what was happening, and I refused to move a muscle until I knew I was safe. As far as I knew, I was about to be autopsied and there wouldn't be thing I could do about it. All I could do was lay still and wait for the man to leave.

"I'm not certain if the foot is salvageable. If it is however, he'll have to remain confined to a bed for a week or so, depending on how fast it heals," After another bout of talking, I felt a cold piece of metal split my skin apart.

"We'll have to make sure that it is dry and warm. Wet it on occasion. And if the foot isn't savable, we'll have to amputate it to prevent it from rotting and giving the patient necrosis-"

"Ya' done talkin' ta yerself?" I heard the same man with the same southern drawl from before say as I heard a door close behind him. Except something was different. This time instead of sounding happy, like he was when I was drugged, he sounded distasteful and spiteful of talking to the man that was tending to me.

"I've told you many times before that it's for study, not because I'm 'lonely at night'," The man replied with the same amount of bitterness and coldness as he removed the needle from my arm.

"Fine, but ya still 'ave ta look at Grunk, he ain't lookin' too good.

"Of course," He said in a degenerated tone as I heard him walk out of the room. As soon as I heard the door close behind them, I tried to move my arms but it felt like I was trying to move a mountain. I tried to open my eyes to see what was wrong, but they were sealed shut and refused to open. Then I heard the door open and ceased all my attempts at motion and listened in as much as I could.

"Almost forgot," I heard the same man of intellectual understanding say before I felt him plant another needle into my vein. And after a few seconds of waiting to see what would happen, I felt my body relax to a staggering degree and felt my subconscious take reign over me.

 _I walked past the lonesome gray lockers that lined the white walls as I pulled a heavy backpack behind me. I wondered the great halls as I continued to walk past crowds of other kids my age. I no sooner found myself at an imperious door made of solid wood and pushed it open to see that a teacher was sitting at his desk looking over papers. His classroom consisted of large black tables with strong steel legs, a poster of the periodic table, and quotes from well-known scientists on the wall._

 _I slowly walked in and let the door slam behind me as I walked up towards the man behind the desk. He looked up from his work and looked me in the eyes as I got closer to him._

 _"James?" He said in a disconcerted tone with a gruffness in his voice that only signified his age._

 _"Never expected to see you come in after school. What do you need?" I pulled my backpack off of me and pulled out a binder that I assigned for this class. I pulled out a test paper that I had gotten that day prior and gave it to him._

 _"I was wondering… if I could retake the test," I said in a quiet tone as my eyes wandered to the ground. I felt his gaze meet my head and heard him speak to me again._

 _"James, I don't do retakes," I looked up from ground and stared into his strict blue eyes._

 _"... Is there... anything else... that I can do?"_

 _"All I can tell you to do is study, do your homework, and take notes. Other than that, there's not much you can do," I felt degraded, but I knew he was going to say something along those lines._

 _"Can I come in on some days and get help?" I said with the same quiet tone that I had used before._

 _"Yes, you can come in after school, but I'm gone at four," He said as a small smile curled its way onto his face. "But you'll have to work hard to bring your grade up; a 'D' may be passing by school standards but not by mine. Now, sit down and feel free to ask me what you want," He said as he handed me back my paper. I sat down soon after and was about to ask him a question about the test, but soon felt like something was staring at me._

 _"How… interesting," I heard the tone of a cold and demanding voice say behind me. I turned around immediately and saw a horse with dark blue fur and a flowing aquamarine mane. It wore shoes made of silver, and a necklace and Tiara made from some black material. Upon its back I could see a set of wings, the same color as her fur, and a horn on its head standing strong and imposing But even though I knew what it was, I could only stare in utter disbelief at what stood before me._

"Very interesting..."

My eyes suddenly snapped open and my heart was thumping in my chest. In my scared state, I looked this way and that to see where I was and was surprised to see that I was in a half built wooden shack. The walls were made from simple logs, only thing holding them together was string, and the ground of dirt that it used as support.

I soon looked down at myself and saw that I was wearing a different red shirt instead of my beige and that a blanket was covering everything from my chest down.

I tried to get up to see where I was, but I felt something keep my arms and legs in place. I looked at my hands to see that I had been handcuffed to the 'bed' that I laid on. The bed was really just a large piece a cloth that had been tightly knitted into the bars that formed a frame for a mattress. I moved this way and that in an attempt to get free, but I knew that no matter how much I struggled I wouldn't be able to break free from my metal bonds so easily.

So after a few minutes of doing absolutely nothing, I heard the door creak open and looked up to see who my captor was. But instead of being angry and spiteful, I was in complete shock at the being who entered my small prison.

There standing on two legs was a man who wore a dirty white lab coat that clashed with his dark skin, and a pair of bulky dark rimmed glasses. He was looking down at a notebook that was in his hands and mumbled to himself. All I could do was stare at his brown eyes and bald head. I can't describe how much relief and shock came to me in that second of awe.

About a minute later he finally looked up from his notebook and looked at me with surprise on his face.

"Huh, didn't expect to see you awake," He said with intellectual interest.


	10. Chapter 9

"In fact, how are you up right now?" The man said as he took a step closer to me.

"I gave you restoril, it should have kept you under," he said as he began to take out his flashlight. And even though my eye was flooded with light, all I could do was stare blankly at the man before me. What could I say? I was too shocked at seeing another man in this world for words to form.

"Who-?" I said before I was cut off.

"So, I am going to assume you know the locals," He said after taking the light away from my eye and mumbling into his hands. But after he was done talking to himself, he looked at me expectantly. I couldn't answer him. No matter how much I wanted to break free from my stupor and scream in joy, I simply couldn't. After everything that I've been through those last few days, I thought I was the last person alive.

And yet there stood a man in front of me looking at me confusingly as I had done nothing but stare at him for an entire minute.

"Uh, s-sir?" He said with a slight stutter as he began to look a little uneasy.

"Who are you?" I finally managed to whisper out of my mouth as I still held the same amount of surprise that I had before.

"Uhm… I'm Derham, I've been taking care of you for some time," Even though he answered my question, I just found myself wondering more. But even though I was thoroughly surprised, it only made sense to ask the most basic questions first.

"Where are we?" I asked him suddenly.

"Well, sir, we are at the safest place we can possibly be out in the forest, especially with those unsavory animals out there," He said with a slight shudder as if he had experience with them. But as I was about to ask more questions, he seemed to have a few for me.

"Now, sir, if you would be kind enough to tell me your name," He said as he pulled out a piece of charcoal from his pocket and pressed it against a page in his notebook. But as I was about to answer, I remembered that I was still locked to the bed. And that didn't exactly sit well with me.

"As soon as you tell me why I'm in cuffs," I said with a slight bitterness in my voice. I didn't care if he was mending to my wounds, I didn't want to be stuck in one spot and become some sort of guinea pig for him to experiment on.

But just as he was about to open his mouth and answer me, the [i]'door'[/i] swung open and a white man with a black Texan hat, dirty brown vest with a blue dress shirt, and dark blue pants strode his way into the room. His graying dirty blonde hair was short, unkempt and extremely curled, strands and pieces of it were wrapped around each other. His face was wrinkled and was mostly covered by a small beard he had, and his eyes were the bluest pair of eyes that I had ever seen.

But even though I was somewhat surprised at seeing another human, I was more surprised that he seemed to notice me instantly.

"Huh, look who's up an' about," His southern accent making itself apparent as he spoke to me. But he soon turned his attention to the other man in the room and waved him over. Durham looked hesitant at first but slowly walked his skinny legs over to the southern man.

They didn't exchange a word until they were outside of the room and out of my range of hearing. And while they talked outside, I could do nothing more than observe my surroundings more thoroughly. I could tell it was day at that moment because of the small rays of light that skewered through the walls, and that they had a small supply of candles since I saw a small bit of dried up wax on a table at my right.

But other than that, there really wasn't much else to talk about. The room was completely barren of anything other than that table and the bed I rested on. But after a minute of sitting and letting my mind wander, the door sprung open with Durham coming in and the southerner walking in behind him. And after they surrounded me, there were a couple of seconds of tense silence before I opened my mouth.

"Why am I-?"

"Yer in cuffs right now 'cause we can't trust ya," The southern man said with a face of indifference.

"You can't trust me?"

"Son, we jus' found ya not a day ago. We don' even know if yer dangerous or not. And out in dis 'er forest, is better safe than sorry," He said as he held a stern gaze as he continued to talk to me.

"Now, son, ya min' tellin' us who ya are?" I'm not sure if it was just a gut feeling or me being paranoid, but I felt like I couldn't trust him. He looked like the type of guy that would take advantage of you when he got the chance. But I was surrounded and cuffed to a bed so I didn't have any real choice in the matter.

"... James… my name is James," I said softly as the southerner stared me down.

"That wasn' hard now was it, [i]James?" [/i]His tone was spiteful, and his face held a sneer smile. And even though I wanted to punch him in that moment, I simply stared at him. If only I knew then what would have happened weeks afterwards.

"Howard, I think we should move on," Durham said on the sidelines as 'Howard' kept staring at me with his blue eyes.

"Right, now I'mma ask ya a couple questions, James, so try ta be truthful-"

"Where are we?" I said as I interrupted him. He looked a little peeved at being cut off, but answered my question anyway. Durham looked at me a little bit confused and proceeded to tell me where we were, again.

"James, I already told you, we're in the forest."

"I know, but I mean… [i]where [/i]are we," I exclaimed with my bound hands. Howard looked at me funny, but Durham was pretty quick to the draw.

"... Now that's a little tougher to explain," Durham said as he folded his arms. He looked down at the ground and didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. And then, suddenly, he looked up and told me everything.

"You see, James, we don't exactly know. We know that we're not on Earth, but we don't know what this planet is called or even what this country is called, if it is a country," I had to sit on that for a while. We're not on Earth anymore. I knew we had to be somewhere foreign. But on a different planet? I thought about it before, but I still found it unbelievable.

"How? How are we on a different planet? How does that make any sense?" I said as I looked at Durham with pleading eyes. And so he opened his mouth and told me the truth.

"It's the only thing that comes close to making sense."

"That's not tha point! Tha point is, is that we 'ave another one 'ere, an' that he 'asn't answered mah questions," Howard said, disrupting our conversation and directing my attention towards him.

"Now, James, ya min' tellin' us where'd ya get that lantern?"

"What?" I was more confused really. Out of all the things he could have asked me, he asks me about a simple lantern.

"Answer me, boy," He really didn't seem to care for my confusion in the slightest, so I told him the honest truth.

"I found it last night. I was running and the handle caught my leg. I thought it was in good condition so I took it with me," He didn't seem happy in the slightest with the answer; in fact, he seemed to get a little angry. He turned away from me for a couple of seconds, but quickly went back to asking me questions

"Why'd ya 'ave so many bullets in dat bag of yers?" He said with a suspicious tone, and a scolding look.

"I have so many because I-… I was moving before I came to this world," It was a half-truth; I was moving when I was thrown into this world.

"Ya jus' 'ave so many bullets on han'?"

"It was grandpas, he gave me the guns and the bullets when he died," It took a little bit longer to make that impromptu lie and he noticed as he eyed me suspiciously. But he let it go and asked me another question.

"What'd ya do 'fore comin' 'ere?"

"He means your job," Durham whispered to me.

"I was an NYPD detective," I said with a small bit of pride swelling in my chest at stating the fact. Howard made a side glance at Durham before looking back down at me and asking me another question.

"Did ya eva' kill?" He looked at me with the same stern look that he had plastered on his face throughout the interrogation. I looked at Howard's eyes for a little bit and was about to respond when I realized what he asked me. But instead of being offended or surprised I didn't say anything. I looked away from Howard and stared into the brown walls of the hut. Howard waited for about a minute before he realized that I wasn't going to tell him anything.

"Ah'll take that as a yes," Afterwards, we didn't say anything for a while. I don't know if he wanted me to say something, or if he was thinking about more questions. But after listening to the nothing, he asked me another question.

"What happen' to yer wife, chil'?" He said as I felt him flick something onto me. I slowly looked down to see the photo of Kathleen and Timmy, both smiling as I was taking a picture of them. It was photo that I had put in my wallet as some sort of reminder of my duty to my family. I'm surprised I forgot about it. But even though the photo was taunting me of a happier time and a simpler time, I simply ignored it and continued to stare at the wall in front of me.

"...Ah think we're done 'ere," Howard said as I felt him slap the wallet down on the bed, and heard him shuffle his way towards the door. But not before Durham gave him his two cents.

"Can we at least take the cuffs off? I don't think he's that dangerous-"

"Ah'll take 'em off when [i][b]ah[/b][/i] think he's not a danger," Howard said in a more spiteful tone as he walked out of the room giving me one final glance. A few moments after the unpleasant experience, I felt Durham look down at me with his pastel brown eyes.

"Don't mind him, James, he's always like this with new people," I didn't respond to him, I didn't really want to talk to anyone at that moment.

"So, James, if you don't mind me asking, how does your foot feel?"

"...Fine," I could hardly hear myself in the small voice that has slithered out of my mouth.

"Alright, I'll come back here in a couple of minutes and rinse it. Shout if you need anything," He walked towards the door, opened it, and promptly closed it behind him. As I layed in bed, I thought back on the things that I did and all the things that could have been. From the time I started walking to where I am now. From all the wrongs to all the rights, I couldn't help but think of how my life could have led to me to where I was.

From that pothead of a friend I had, to the times where I held a baby Timmy in my arms. I couldn't help but think of how all my decisions in life lead up to that moment where I was handcuffed to a bed in a world dominated by ponies.

And through my wonderings, the photo of my wife and child fell into my left hand. I broke my stare from the wall and looked down at the photo. I stared and stared at it just hoping that I was going to wake up next to my beautiful wife and my child. But I knew that wasn't going to happen.

And so, I slowly crushed the photo in a fist.


	11. Chapter 10

I dropped the photo on the ground and was immobile for a while, simply thinking. But Durham came in a couple minutes later, picked up the photo and the wallet that was on me and placed them on table with wax. But I didn't care, I just wanted to be left alone. And alone I was. I would constantly fall back asleep since I was bored out of my mind, but I didn't have any dreams for the next couple of days.

The times where I got hungry or thirsty, Durham would come in with either a bowl of berries or a canister of water. He would feed me like I was a toddler since I couldn't feed myself, it's a shame that the berries tasted like shit. I'm not sure what it was, but the aftertaste it left in my mouth made me want to vomit every time I bit into one of them. I asked Durham why they tasted so terrible and he told me that they were picked right out of the forest's bushes. He said he couldn't exactly find anything else to eat since they were very slim on supplies, so I just manned up and ate them.

Durham would come in every ten minutes or so to wash my foot and try to start some small talk. But I wouldn't say much in response. Although that didn't seem to stop him from talking to me. In one of the many 'conversations' we had, he told me he was studying medicine in Oxford, and that he was interning at a hospital when he came here. I asked him what if he saw anything, but he said he dozed off while he was in drug storage.

Woke up in a dessert with a number of vials and syringes scattered around him, walked aimlessly until he found Howard and his group . I thought it was pretty weird that he didn't wake up when he was being taken here, but I was in a weirder position when I came here so I can't say much.

However, sometimes when he was in the room with me, I would notice that his breathing was ragged and that he was sweating profusely. I didn't think it was that weird at first, it was pretty hot out in the forest. But the thing that got me suspicious about Durham, was how he would sometimes just leave in the middle of a conversation. And then he would come back three or four minutes later either being completely calm or overly happy.

It only happened a few times, but it happened. At first, I thought he had to check up on 'Grunk', or that he simply forgot something important and was relieved that he remembered. God, I was ignorant back then. During times like that, I would ask him what he was doing but he would turn it around, ask me how many people I've arrested and how many times I got in a shootout. But I kept my mouth shut when he asked those types of questions. Which in turn left my brain wondering what he was hiding.

But at least he would talk to me. Howard, on the other hand, wouldn't give me the time of day. He'd give me a slight glance here and there, but other than that we really didn't have any other social interactions with one another. This type of

And after a few days passed, my hands were beginning to feel numb, and I couldn't do anything about it except sit there and wait for Howard to come in and unlock the cuffs. You know I'm not certain if it's true or not, but I think Howard was suspicious of me. I could be wrong, but the way he always looked at me didn't help. It's probably one of the reasons why he kept me in cuffs in the first place.

But eventually after sitting in the same spot and counting the lines on the wall for the hundredth time, Howard came in and looked me over. He didn't say anything for a minute or so and we just kept staring at each other. And suddenly he pulled out a key from his back pocket and unlocked the cuffs on my hands and legs. But before I could thank him for his 'generous' action, I felt him push me into the bed and hold a knife to my neck. It wasn't any regular knife either, it was military grade, from what I can tell. It's handle was painted to look like desert camo, and the blade was sharper than a razor as it was pressed up against the hairs on my neck.

"Yer lucky Durham convince' me tah unhook ya, but if'n ya try anythang or hurt anybody 'ere, I will put you down mah self, ya understan'?" I slowly nodded my head, my eyes being fixated on the knife that was about to slit my throat. He slowly got off of me and walked out of the room, dragging his feet behind him. When he left, my hand slowly went to my chest in an attempt to calm down my increased heart rate. Once I was calmed down, I started twisting my body this way and that in order to undo knots that had built up while I was stuck to one spot.

But as I was moving my body around, I couldn't help but think why Howard unhooked me. He didn't listen to Durham before, so I didn't understand why he would do it then. I thought he might have grown a heart, or maybe he felt sorry for me somehow, but it never really added up. But hell, I didn't care; I could finally move more than a few inches.

After a minute of enjoying my freedom, I began to get off of the bed that I was trapped on for days on end. My feet met the cold dirty ground and relished in the feeling of anything that wasn't cloth. And I ever so gently pushed myself from the bed and tried my best to keep myself steady. Now that I think about it, I wasn't in the best physical state, and probably shouldn't have been walking.

But being locked to a bed for a couple of days, made me restless. Being on my feet again felt good, but I could still feel my foot in pain. It wasn't anything excruciating. thankfully, hardly noticeable in fact; it was like a small bruise you didn't notice until you hit by accident.

So with my new found freedom, I slowly made my way towards the door. I reached for the handle out of muscle memory only to remember that there was no handle. So I simply pushed the door open. Outside, I could see an open field with a bit of dead grass peppered throughout its landscape. In the middle of the small confined area, I could see the ashes of a once lit fire surrounded by a few big rocks. Near me, and lining the outer rim of the forest, I saw a few trunks of trees still in the ground, molested by green mold and decay. The forest sat behind it, foreboding and freighting as it always has been.

I looked deep into its green mass thinking and pondering to myself. To be honest, I thought about running back out into the wild, but doing something like that would be suicide. I barely survived my encounter with those wolves and I would more than likely become sick with something else. And if I was unlucky, I would more than likely suffer an extremely painful death alone and afraid. But now isn't the time to speculate the 'what ifs' and the 'could'ves', now is the time to tell a tale.

I looked away from the green menace and looked back to the small encampment that I was trapped in. Surrounding the small fire place, were some small huts that were constructed around it.

They weren't as big as my prison cell I was in. If anything, it just looked like a hovel. So, with a small bit of care, I walked towards the small huts. But once I was halfway there, I could hear voices penetrating the 'walls'. It was extremely muffled and I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it sounded like they were having an argument.

But as I got closer and closer to the disturbance, I was able to distinguish who was arguing. It sounded like Durham and Howard were having a pissing fit and a woman's voice was trying to stop a fight from occurring.

Being the ever curious man that I was, I walked closer to the small but and listened into the conversation.

"-For the last time, Howard, he's in no state to do anything! He needs at least a week before he-"

"If he can walk, he can leave. We 'ardly 'ave enough food for ourselves. Wha' makes ya think that we can support 'em?"

"He has a point, Durham. We have a couple of weeks before fall comes and we hardly have enough supplies for our lonesome," I didn't recognize this voice. It was of the female persuasion, but as luck would have it, it was not the same voice that had helped Howard kidnap me. This voice had a bit of a British side to it and seemed to be more upper class. But other than that, there really wasn't much else to tell about it.

"Then he'll help! He did have a rifle with him, maybe he could hunt-"

"With 'ow many shoots ah heard, ah doubt he can hunt as good as Sarah can."

"You know, as well as I do, that Sarah is more than likely dead."

"Ya don't know that."

"Yes, and she just leaves her lantern in the forest for someone to stumble upon," You remember that lantern I found out in the forest? Well, I was just 'lucky' enough to find it out there. It served its purpose when I needed it, but now I think it was getting me trouble.

"She could still be alive," Howard said with a noticeable hint of anger slipping into his voice.

"It's been a week, Howard, if she's still alive, then she [i][b]is[/b][/i] going to die soon."

"Well, we ain't gonna know until she comes back, now will we? An' if she don't, then ah 'ave a couple more questions fer our [i]friend[/i]," There was a small bit of silence after that. I don't know if they were glaring at each other or just didn't know what to say next. But soon after, Durham made another suggestion for my workload.

"... He can collect resources."

"Grunk collects resources."

"'Grunk' is a stupid Neanderthal who only understands one word. James is someone who can talk to us, and he has the strength to do what Grunk does."

"Grantherin' is Grunk's-"

"Grunk is out of commission. He's sick right now because he ate a poisonous butterfly. And we need someone to gather wood for us while you hunt for food. So unless you want to grab that axe and start chopping down trees, I would suggest we have our friend here help," There was sickening silence in air. It was as if Howard was deciding in that moment whether or not he wanted my help. Not a single word was uttered in their silence not until 'Mary' spoke up.

"He is right about that. We've nearly run out of wood and we're going to need some in the next couple of days," Came the voice from the sophisticated lady.

"... Fine. But if'n he tries anythang, ah warned ya," I heard him begin to walk my way and was about to book it as fast as I could. But I was saved by the almighty hand of a curious young adult.

"And why do you think he'll hurt us?" And there that voice was. That was the voice of the one who helped Howard. It sounded like a typical American accent, but it sounded young and inexperienced. But it stopped Howard in his tracks. Howard's steps stop instantly and I heard his response in a low and cold tone.

"Tha' look 'e has in his eyes, Nicole. I don' like it..." That was as much as I heard from them, I was practically half way back to the cell that I had escaped from, thankful that the small limp I had didn't hinder me that much. But not a moment later, I heard an intense growling and barking mixed with the sounds of paws pounding against the ground.

I didn't get the chance to turn around. Instead, I felt something bite the lower part of my pants, which in turn caused me to fall flat on my face. Turning as fast as I could while on the ground, I saw a German Shepard tugging and ripping my pants as it struggled to keep me down. I looked at the old dog in a small bit of disbelief, but before I could register what was truly happening, I felt it jump on my chest and start trying to bite me.

I immediately put one of my hands on its throat and the other on its nape in an attempt to save myself from its vicious bite. I used all of the strength I had in order to keep the dog from ripping my head in two, but that damnable dog was persistent. I felt it try to rip itself out of my grip, but I kept it in place as best as I could. I was thankful that Howard had come out at the right moment.

"Goddammit!" Howard practically yelled as I felt him lift the dog off of me and saw him throw it away from me. "Get, ya stupid mutt!" Howard then turned his attention to me and gave me the angriest look that could rival Kathleen's. Behind Howard, I could see Durham in his white lab coat and two other ladies hidden behind him, watching the scene unfold before them.

"Tha hell do ya think yer doin'?!" He said in such a loud voice that it was on the verge of screaming. His hand reaching behind him as he yelled at me.

"I was jus-" Not even a second passed before I saw him pull out a pistol from his side and aim it at my head. It was a Colt.45 m1911 being pointed directly at me. I froze. I thought he was going to blow my brains out and that would be the end of my journey. But Durham came to my rescue.

"Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?! You can't just kill him!" Durham came running up on his side and started pleading with him. But even though he was saving me, I didn't dare break eye contact with the gun in fear that he Howard would think that I was going to make a run for it.

"Why tha hell not? Dis 'ere idiot jus' tried leavin'. Probably off ta the rest of 'is group to rob us while we's sleeping," Howard said as he was itching to pull the trigger. I could barely see it out of the corner of my eye, but I saw Durham's face turn into a glare as he stared at Howard and saw his arms fold in an angry manner.

"Then fine, pull the trigger and see how long we can survive the onslaught of wolves, lions, and whatever else this damn forest has," Howard stopped looking at me and slowly let his gaze turn to Durham, his gun still pointed at my head. Seeing as he got Howard's attention, Durham continued to rant at him about the implications he was about to take.

"They will come down on us and it won't matter how many bullets we have, or how fast we run, we will die. So go ahead pull the trigger, kill us all while you're at it," Howard looked at Durham for a couple of more seconds before looking back down at me and I could feel his anger and hatred leak out of him. We stared at each other for a minute or so, a man about to murder me in cold blood while I lay on the ground waiting for him to pull the trigger. He then slowly lowered the gun and started to walk away from me. He then stopped in his tracks and turned to Durham.

"Get 'em tha hell outta 'ere," I slowly let out a breath that I had been holding in and Durham came around to pick me up. I was no sooner was off of the ground, thanks to Durham, and was being led back to the small prison I had lived in for a few days. But my mind was bubbling with a question to ask Durham. I was confused and curious as to his actions, but I knew it wasn't the time nor the place to ask him. So I kept my mouth shut until we were truly alone.

When Durham finally got me back to my prison and helped me back on the bed, I looked him in the eye and asked him the question that had been bothering my mind when he picked me up.

"Why?" Durham looked at me, confused by my question.

"... Why what?" He said in response

"Why'd you stop him? He could've shot me and you would've been completely fine. So why'd you stop him?" He looked at me for a couple of more seconds before he looked down at the ground, his glasses nearly slipping off. I saw a stray tear fall down from his eyes and hit the dirty ground before he looked up at me with tear filled eyes on the verge of pouring down his face. His mouth slowly opened with his lips trembling to get the answer out.

"... I don't want to see anyone else die," His voice stammering as he told me.

Durham didn't say anything after that and soon left. We didn't exactly have much to talk about afterwards so he just left me alone with my thoughts. I began to think about who this 'Grunk' was and who 'Sarah' was. I knew that this 'Sarah' was more than likely dead. A human can only survive for so long out there without sustaining some kind of injury, I was a great example of that. And Durham said that she's been out there for a week, so I wouldn't be surprised if they found her body being chewed on by some wild animals.

But when they mentioned that lantern, I think my heart stopped. That lantern that I had found out there was more than likely hers, and Howard was more than likely thinking that I had done something to her. That was probably why Howard treated me like he did.

But Grunk though, I had no idea who Grunk was. By the way Durham and Howard described him, it sounded like a cliched jock, a lot of muscle but very little brain. But he sounded like an important individual to their group, collecting resources would make you extremely important in the eyes of people who depended on you. What I was confused by was how Durham described Grunk. 'A stupid Neanderthal' a bit harsh when I heard those words. But now? Grunk most certainly was.

And that damn dog. It knew what it was doing, it was trained. Regular dogs don't do those types of things without having someone train them, and I was more than certain with how it grabbed me, that its trainer was a professional.

I sat on my thoughts for a while, not noticing the time pass me by as I let my mind wonder. I was, however, disrupted from my small world that I was in by the sound of a door slamming against the wall. My eyes snapped to the sound and I saw Howard menacingly standing in the doorway looking at me with suspicion and hate. Without saying a word, he walked over to me, his footsteps echoing in the small enclosement that we were in. It wasn't until he was towering over me that he finally said something.

"Tha hell were ya doin' out der?" His voice was calmer in comparison to how he was before but it still held the same amount of suspicion and anger.

"I needed to stretch my legs a little, they felt a little-"

"Why'd ya leave dis room?" He said in a rude manner as he interrupted me.

"... I wanted to know where I was," With the answer I gave him, he just sort of stared at me. No real anger or hate in his eyes after a while. But after staring into his blank stare for a couple of minutes, he started to speak to me again.

"Yer gonna work tomorrow, ya hear? Ya ain't gonna be in dis bed like a useless shitter," And with that he started to walk back out the door, but not before I opened my mouth.

"And what exactly I'm going to be doing?" I knew what it was, but I had to make it think like I didn't hear him when he was talking to Durham and the others. He turned around and said in five simple words to me what he had planned.

"What eve' I tell ya," Howard said before walking back out the door and closing it behind him. And with the event of the day coming to a close, I shut my eyes and fell into the land of nod.


	12. Chapter 11

Applejack had ran after the human for a good mile or two, in an attempt to show him how much she appreciated the new scar her friend would have. She had ran and ran and ran, her hooves pounding and tearing at the ground as she pursued the man who has caused her friend so much grief. She had been running so fast that she hadn't even realized that her hat had flown clean off and that he her tails bow was ripped off by a branch thrown at her by the human. Her determination being ever so present with the rage that had built up in her.

But every time she thought she was going to catch up with her enemy, he would make some sort of twist or turn which would cause her to slow down and stumble as she tried to keep up with his ever shifting movements. But after trying and trying to catch him for what seemed like an hour, she saw him jump through the tree line. Realizing that she might have lost him, she put more energy into her hooves as she tried to keep up with him. But as she forced her way through the brush and the tall grass of the forest, she saw the human steadily step his way back before running at full speed and jump out of her vision

And the second that Applejack had coerced through the forest's outline, she could see the small cliff that she had almost galloped off of. But as she looked down at the cavern that she had nearly fallen in, she saw the human on the other side of the cliff, holding on for dear life. She immediately got back on her hooves and took a few steps back, about to jump to the other side of the cliff. But as she was about to jump to the other side of the cliff, she saw the rock that had been supporting the human cracked under the human's weight.

And before she realized it, the stone slab had been released from the ground that had been holding it for over a millennium, bringing the human down into the depths of the waters below. She watched him fall all the way down into the hole in the ground, her eyes never leaving his panicked face. And she watched his body splash into the icy waters. She waited to see if his head would poke out, and after a few seconds of dead silence, his arms came flailing out of his watery grave in an attempt to keep himself afloat.

Her eyes widened slightly at seeing his body shot out of the water, somehow alive. She thought his head or body would have hit the rocks below, but it seemed that luck was on his side. She looked this way and that for a path down the river, but her efforts were futile. So seeing the man who had maimed her friend slowly drift away from her, she could do nothing more than simply glare at him, only able to watch as a bystander.

He had soon grabbed onto a log that had floated down the river and was using it as a liferaft. And as he floated further and further away from her, he looked right up at her. She looked right back at him with rage and hate featured on her face. They held the stare of hate and fear for as long as they could before he was drifted too far away for her to see him anymore.

She sat there in a slight disbelief at what she saw, the events of what had transpired finally making itself prevalent in her brain. The last human to ever been seen in recorded history was over a year ago. And she just chased one into the Evergreen forest. But as she was thinking about the events of what had transpired, she suddenly remembered that a friend of hers was on the ground bleeding profusely out of her shoulder. So with the thought of losing her friend, she shot back up onto her hooves and galloped back to her farm.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle laid on the ground, holding her shoulder in a fruitless attempt to stop the blood that was staining her purple fur and pooling around her. Her breathing had become ragged and anytime that she tried to move her hoof, she would feel irrevocable burning pain course through her body. She tried to use a teleportation spell to get to the Ponyville hospital, but the pain kept making her lose her focus. It's amazing that she didn't go into shock. So without any options, she had no choice but to stay on the ground, still as a corpse.

But as she laid on the ground, still as a rock, her thoughts have wandered on the human that had attacked her and caused her such monumental pain. She couldn't help but think of the events that had up to her bleeding on the ground. She had exploring Ponyville in an attempt to get understand the community that she had been apart of for a couple of months. But as she trotted from place to place, admiring the architecture and saying 'Hello!' to ponies that passed her, she heard the shrill shrieks of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drawing ever closer to her.

Being the ever good pony that she was, she turned around and asked the duo what was wrong. When they told her that something had attacked them in the Everfree, Twilight gave them a apathetic glance. She had heard many lies come out of Diamond Tiaras mouth, but as she kept hearing the begging and pleading voice for her to come with them, she finally gave in and followed the two foals to the Everfree.

And as they got closer and closer to the eluded forest, she had kept warning them to stay in her sight, that they were getting to close to the forest, and that they should go back to Ponyville. But as she kept warning them and warning them, she saw a human standing there. She hadn't read much upon the study of humans, but every book that she had read told the same story. They are dangerous.

The last human in recorded history was over three years ago and thought that its race had went extinct. But yet, there was one standing in front of her with its bright amber eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Its clothes were dirty and grimy, it's overgrown hair was unkempt and filthy while its face was covered by a stubbly beard.

Immediately, she put the fillies behind her and told them to 'get the guard'. But after saying the last syllable of that sentence, she saw the human dash back into the forest. She almost followed it out of instinct, but then realized that it was running back into the forest. So she yelled at it, told it to stop running, but her yells were meet with faint ears. So seeing as to the danger that Ponyville was more than likely in, she galloped all the way to her library and called out for Spike.

But after remembering that he was out with Rarity collecting gems, she immediately levitated a quill and a piece of parchment and began writing as fast as she possibly could.

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _I don't know if you will believe me, but found a human near Ponyvillle! A couple of fillies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, said that it attacked them. This is the first time in a year that a human has been spotted and I don't know what to do, please tell me what to do! Should I study it? Capture it? Please respond fast!_

 _Your faithful student,_

 _Twilight Sparkle._

With that, she rolled up the parchment and placed it in a ribbon and placed it on the main rooms table for Spike to give to Celestia when he came back. With that done, she was back out the door of library and galloping off the Sweet Apple Acres. Why didn't she go to her other friends? Well, Fluttershy was on the other side of town and would more than likely coware at seeing a human, Rainbow Dash was more than likely on a clouse asleep, and Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie.

Leaving only Applejack to help her. And so she gathered her thoughts, closed her eyes, and focused her mind on the location that she wanted to teleport to. And with a flick of magic, she was at Sweet Apple Acres. She knew that she would need help from all of her friends in order to deal with this new threat, but one step at a time.

But through the small physical pain that she had endured, she made it to apple farm and started to look for her friend within the immaculate amount of apple trees. Barely, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Applejack trotting into the farm with her little sister, carrying bushels of apples upon their back. She galloped her way towards the two apple sisters.

Storming into the barn, she screamed for Applejack.

"Applejack!" Snapping their head, Applejack and her little sister looked at Twilight with a little bit of surprise before Applejack opened her mouth.

"What in tarnation do ya think yer doing, Twilight?" Applejack looked a little surprised to see such actions being taken by Twilight, but knew well that her friend would have a good reason as to why she slammed the barn door open. But as Twilight was about to tell her, she noticed Applebloom looking at her confusingly. A foal, not even twelve, was about to be exposed to the knowledge of a human. Knowledge that a mind so young should not even know. So she chose her next few words carefully.

"Applejack, I need your help to gather the girls, something tried to kill Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon!" Sort of carefully. But with the words that had spilled out of her mouth, Applejacks face of surprise turned into one of steel determination, and the two friends were soon galloping out of the farm, leaving the filly by herself.

"So, wha is this thang that tried ta kill?" Applejack said when they were far away enough from the barn. Twilight's galloping slowly turned into a stop as she looked down at the ground, asking herself if she should tell Applejack about the human. One part of her said that 'You should, she's your friend!' while the other side said 'You shouldn't, she won't understand!'. But during her thoughts, Applejack had noticed the lack of a friend by her side and turned back around to see Twilight standing still. With curiosity sparking her mind, Applejack questioned what Twilight was doing.

"Wha' ya doing, Twilight?" Applejack said, causing Twilight's head to slowly look up to her farming friend. But with as much of steady breath as she could muster, Twilight told Applejack the challenge that they would face.

"... It's a human," Twilight said, with a trembling voice and wavering lip. Applejack's face could not have been more horrified.

"Hu-hu-human? Twilight, the las' time a human was seen was 'bout three years ago. Are ya sure?" Applejack asked for a small bit of confirmation, hoping that her friend was joking or was only imagining.

"... Yes,"

Applejack face had turned into a small bit of rage as she realized what was bound to happen. And she was soon galloping off to her house towards her granny, Twilight taking off after her. Soon getting there, Applejack troted up the stairs and into the lovely abode she called 'home'. Twilight waited outside for her friend, wondering why she was going to her house than helping her find her friends.

It was quiet at first, and Twilight was getting anxious from the wait before she suddenly heard arguing voices come from inside. She was about to poke her head in when Applejack came back out and began walking down a path.

"What happened?" Twilight asked in a curious voice, following behind the cowpony.

"Nothin'," Applejack replied in a voice that made Twilight flinch, but she prevailed. As she was about to ask again, she was meet with a rebuttal from Applejack.

"I don' wanna talk 'bout it," Applejack said, interrupting Twilight's thought. And so Twilight brought her thoughts to back to the major problem at hoof.

"Please Applejack, we need to hurry," Twilight said, skipping in front of her friend in an attempt to increase her pace.

"Well ah'm sorry that ah had to check up on Granny Smith, Twilight! It's not like she's getting on in her age or nothing!"

"Applejack, we don't have time to argue! That monster could be attacking Ponyville as we speak! Come on, I'm sure if we hurry-" Twilight was soon cut off as she saw the beast in front of her, being ever threatening as it was before. She stood there, unable to move from the position that she was in. That was, until Applejack pulled out a lasso and threw it at the human which made the human run horizontally.

"Shoot," Applejack said in a small voice. She rolled up her rope and was off chasing the human that she had missed.

"C'mon, Twilight!" Applejack shouted behind her, as she dove into the farms trees in an attempt to track the human. Twilight stood there still as a rock, wondering to herself if she should follow Applejack. But after realizing that her friend was in potential danger, she began to gallop towards Applejack with the intention to pacify the human.

But as she became closer and closer to her friend, she heard the sounds of a struggle. And as she pushed past the last of the apple trees, she saw Applejack holding the human on the ground with a rope around its neck as it attempted to free itself. Twilight was horrified to see the monstrosity of a show unfold in front of her, and was about to scold Applejack with being too violent until she saw the human cut the piece of rope with a hatchet. It was back up on its feet and was running again but didn't get too far, as Twilight had caught it with its magic.

She had tried to grab any part of its body so that it wouldn't be able to move, but it was a useless effort. Whenever she tried to grab its cloths with her magic, her magic dissipated into nothingness. Whenever she tried to grab its limbs with her magic, her magic dissipated into nothingness. Whenever she tried to grab its saddlebag with her magic, her magic dissipated into nothingness.

But when she grabbed the rope with her magic, her magic held strong. And so she grabbed the rope and tried to keep him in one place as he twisted and turned, grabbing the rope in an attempt to be freed. But as it threw itself this way and that, it managed to turn around and looked at Twilight's horn. It had thrashed a little bit further and had pulled out something metal that was aimed right at her. And before Twilight could react, she heard a deafening explosion and felt something enter her foreleg.

Twilight's concentration of magic had cancelled and allowed the human freedom again. Her head slowly looked down to her foreleg, and in seeing a hole in her leg slowly letting blood pour out of her body, she did nothing but stare at it. Her mind was unable to process what she was seeing. Her own blood slinking out of her body and staining her purple fur. It then hit her like a brick wall. All the pain in the world had shot through her, and she fell on the ground cradling her arm in an attempt to rid the pain that plagued her body.

She was ignorant of the world around her as her body convulsed and shivered from what it felt. She watched the human get back up and start running through the fields of apples again, she watched on as she was unable to move. Suddenly, she heard Applejack gallop her way and in a sickening fashion, she saw Applejack's mouth move up and down but was unable to hear her. All she was able to hear was the ringing sound that made her world around her feel inadequate.

But as sudden as Applejack came to her, she was suddenly stomping against the ground in an attempt to catch up with the human. Leaving Twilight with a feeling of abandonment.

Which brings you up to where the story is now.

There she was, still on the ground, tears silently crawling off of her face as the pain was still prevalent in her body. Her consciousness wondering what would happen to her family. She would never say goodbye to her mother or father. She would never get to see her brother get married. She would never see a stallion she would spend the rest of her life with. She would never have foals to annoy her and love her at the same time. And she would never grow old and die surrounded by her family.

No.

Instead, she would be on the ground, alone and afraid, bleeding to death. Or so she thought. Applejack had come back, almost ten minutes later, with her hat ruffled and torn as she looked over Twilight's bloody body. Twilight looked up at Applejack with a lack-luster look as she tried to say something. Applejack, noticing this, sat silent, waiting for her friend to tell her what she wanted.

"Hos-... Hospital," And with one simple word, Applejack picked up Twilight and placed her on her back before she started to gallop to the hospital as fast as her farm legs would allow her. And galloped she did. She galloped and galloped, never stopping for a break or a breath, for she knew her friend's life could be taken at a moment's glance.

Arriving at Ponyville, she galloped past the many ponies that had a looked at her in confusion as they caught sight of the pony that Applejack had upon her back. Only for that look to turn into one of horror as they see their local librarian's blood gushing out of her body.

But Applejack ignored the looks that were given to her, as she was far more concerned for her friend. But upon turning a corner, she saw 'Ponyville General', the local hospital for any Ponyvilleians. And once she saw her target, she locked her eyes on it and ran even faster.

And once she had all but slammed the doors open, she called out for help.

"Help! Somepony, help!" She said as her lungs were pumping oxygen in and out of her body. A nurse with slightly pink fur, white fur, and a red cross for a cutie mark stared at the two for a moment before suddenly yelling out for a gurdy and for someone to prep ER. And an entire team had popped out of one of the many doors, wheeling a cart behind them as unicorns lifted Twilight off of Applejacks back and placed her nearly lifeless body onto a gurney.

Applejack was tempted to follow them, but her hooves told her that she had been running enough. And so she sat down on the ground with the few nurses that have surrounded her, her lungs heaving and hooves aching.

"What happened?" Asked one of the nurses as it stared at the door that Twilight was taken through.

"Human," Applejack said simply as she continued to stare at the door, hoping that her friend would live. The nurse's head snapped towards the orange pony covered by her friends blood and stared at her with her mouth agape.

* * *

Spike walked back to Ponyville, dragging a wagon full of jewels behind him as Rarity continued to talk his ear off. But it didn't matter to the little drake that Rarity continued to talk about the latest fashion model, he would listen to anything she had to say to just be around her. Anything for her. And so he walked in silence responding to some questions while sneaking a gem or two into his mouth when Rarity wasn't looking.

They had been done with today's activities of collecting gems and were on their way home to Ponyville. Spike still listening to Rarity as they got closer and closer to town. But when they did get close, they noticed that some of the ponies looked mortified while others were giving them sorrowful looks. Rarity didn't really notice because she had been more focused on the conversation she was having with Spike, but that didn't stop the little dragon from feeling uncomfortable.

But after going through his bitter experience, he finally arrived at Rarity's boutique. Rarity then thanked Spike for helping her collect by giving him a kiss on the cheek and a handful of gems. Spike had a dreamy look plastered on his face, forgetting the faces some of the ponies gave them. And he was suddenly brought out of his daydreaming when he heard Rarity slam the door in front of him.

Letting out a dejected sigh, Spike started walking back to the library, dragging his feet behind him in a begrudging manner. And as he pushed the door open to his home, he noticed an entire number of ponies all looking at him again. But he ignored the looks that he was being given, opened the door, and proceeded to go inside the wooden abode before calling out for Twilight.

"Twilight, I'm back!" He said with his small immature voice. But as he started walking further into the tree, he noticed there was a lack of Twilight yelling back at him.

"Twilight?!" He yelled out again, looking around the library for her as he felt an unnerving feeling crawl up his back. And as he looked up and down and around the entirety of the small library, he noticed a rather small scroll laid flat on the main table. Scuttering his feet towards the table, he noticed that it was sealed with the traditional seal that symbolised its inevitable meeting with Princess Celestia.

And so, he picked up the scroll and breathed his green breath unto it. And after dealing with the small task, he walked over to one of the couches, jumped on it, and let out a long yawn before falling asleep for the night. Peacefully letting his mind wander into dreams.

* * *

Princess Celestia was currently in the throne room, looking over two ponies that were arguing before her. She sat idly by looking over a paper or two, or straightening the pillow she saw upon. The ponies before her were arguing about a simple manner, but one that piqued her interest.

One of the ponies was saying that a runned down part of canterlot was to be torn down and a school was to be built there, for the betterment of the future generation. While the other pony was urging that, in doing so, there would be more homeless ponies on the street.

She was a bit torn between the two. In one hoof, the future generation would have a better education, but more ponies would be on the street. In the other hoof, everything would remain the same and the world would continue the way it has been for over a millennium. But as she was about to interrupt their 'marvelous' conversation, a rather recognizable parchment had apparated in front of her.

And a small smile had curved on her face. Knowing her student, Twilight more than likely discovered another friendship problem and solved it instantly. A rather commending trait that can be found within her young student. But remembering that she was in the middle of court, she gestured the two squabbling ponies out of the throne room and told them that 'This conversation is not over yet'. And as soon as she saw them turn their tale and leave the confines of the grandeur room, she unfurled the letter and began to ponder what friendship lesson her student has discovered this time.

Could it have been about sharing? Telling your friend a secret? About standing up to your friends when they're doing something wrong? The thought and imaginings of Princess Celestia's mind never seemed to stop pouring out as she thought of the next accomplishment that her student has mastered. And with an everlasting thought, she unfurled the letter and began to read.

And the smile on her face turned into one of horror. She kept redding the letter over and over again, thinking that she was simply imagining the words on the paper. But as she kept reading it again and again, she began to realize that what she was reading was truth. And her face of horror soon turned into one of sheer will. She promptly stood up from her throne and began to trot her way towards the door, levitating the scroll behind her. In doing so, she told the guard to send four squads of guardsmen to Ponyville and that 'day-court' was over before she began to march her way over to princess Luna's room.

Where the watcher of the night was currently resting.

And when she finally managed to storm her way up the castle many steps and past the many stationed guards, she finally made it to her sisters room. Where she promptly knocked and stood silently before her sister's chambers. She her a small grunt and before she knew it, she saw 'elegant beauty' that was Princess Luna. The princess was standing in front of her with a slightly disheveled mane and slightly angry looking face. Princess Luna looked at Celestia for a couple of seconds, not really caring for what reason she was woken up for.

"What doth thou want?" Princess Luna said, showing just how irritated she was at the current situation. This, however, did not affect Celestia as she responded within a second of the question.

"Luna, we need to converse about a matter, it is of grave importance," Not even waiting for a response, Celestia trotted into the room and looked out over the balcony that was stationed in her sister's room. There she looked over her kingdom and admired it for its worth. And even though she knew her kingdom was not perfect, she knew that her subjects were more than quaint to deal with them.

But as her mind wandered and wandered more about her subjects, she heard the disgruntled voice of her loving sister.

"Tia, what is so important that thou had to waketh thee from thine slumber?!

Princess Celestia remained silent for a small time, letting the awkward feel of the air wash over the two of them. But even though Princess Luna wanted to do nothing more than yell at her sister for not saying anything, she heard a small bit of despair pour out of her sister's mouth.

"My most prized pupil has sent me a letter entailing that a human was sighted near Ponyville," Celestia hadn't said another word. The entire room was silent, nothing but the small bit of wind making noise at it hit against the glass doors of the balcony. But through the silence, Princess Luna's mind was asking itself one simple question.

"And, pray tell, what it this 'human'?"

"I see somepony hasn't caught up on their studies-" Princess Celestia said, giving her sister a quick glare before looking back through the balconies window"- but now is not the time to scold you. Now is the time for caution." Princess Celestia said before turning around and looking at Princess Luna's eyes. Princess Celestia floated over the scroll that her student had sent her into Luna's vision for her to read.

And as Princess Luna read it, she couldn't help but be confused. She had no idea what a human was and why it would cause such a smart and calm pony to panic. And while the mere thought of this 'thing' harming one of her subjects boils her blood, she can not understand how one being would cause her own sister to be scared.

"Celestia, what is a human?" Princess Luna said after some time. Princess Celestia floated the scroll on the floor before thinking of a simple way to explain what a human is.

"A human is an intelligent, cunning, and dangerous creature. We don't know when they first started to appear, but the first official documented sighting was one hundred and twelve years ago," She stopped talking for a short time and looked at her sister with such loss and doubt plastered on her face before she continued to talk.

"The pony who documented her said that she came out of the Evergreen Forest, with cuts and bruises. So, he thought about helping it, but when he was seen, she ran back into the forest," Princess Celestia stopped for a moment after hearing her sister chuckle slightly behind her.

"Tia, this sound's liketh a foal's tale, thee aren't trying to pulleth mine own hoof, art thee?" Princess Luna said, slightly smiling at her sister.

"No, Luna, this isn't a joke," Princess Celestia said, giving her sister a quick glare before continuing on with her story.

"So, being the worried pony that he was, he went to the nearest royal guard for help. But they laughed in his face, said that 'he was drinking too many pints'. But one guard listened and decided to investigate the area it was last seen. But when the guard didn't report to his commander, they sent a platoon into the forest to find him. And when they did eventually find him after two days of exploring, the only thing they could make out was his foreleg," Princess Celestia looked back at Princess Luna with a blank expression adorned onto her face. Princess Luna, however, looked a little concerned for the matter.

"Thee aren't suggesting yond this 'human' didst this, art thee?"

"The battalion of guardsponies found hoofprints leading away from the murder scene. And they followed them…" Princess Celestia remained silent for a small time, simply looking back through the small glass door that separated her from her sister's balcony. She let out not a whisper nor a sound, instead, letting the silence of the air take a voice instead.

But eventually, Princess Celestia broke her gaze from the glass door, and turned her body fully to her sister, looking her in the eye with meaning and sorrow.

"They were slaughtered. But during the fight, one of the guardsponies managed to find his way out and galloped back to command. In his report, he said that they were surrounded by twenty of them, but that he managed to grab onto some of their belongings while he tried to escape. One of these items was a book written in their strange foreign language. It was then that I was made aware of the recent events that had transpired. I was more than a little angry that I wasn't told sooner of the lives that had been lost, and-"

"Tia, receiveth to the pointeth," Princess Luna said, her eyelids barely staying their course.

"... We sent the book to an expert team of decipherers. It took them a couple of weeks to decode their language, but when they did, they discovered things beyond imagination. They were a thriving community, they were intelligent, and that they came from a different world entirely,"

"How?" Princess Luna said, cutting off her sister.

"We don't know yet. It might be some portal we're not aware of yet, or maybe some other outside power.

"Tis impossible f'r those folk to cometh h're, any charm wouldst has't hath killed those folk."

"I have a team of wizards investigating the matter, but regardless, after we discovered they were sentient, I tried to send diplomats with gifts to show them that we mean them no harm."

"Nay harmeth?! Those gents murd'r'd thy guardsponies, and thee wanteth to showeth those folk m'rcy?!"

"I sent an entire platoon of guardponies with them just incase. They searched for weeks on end, but couldn't find them. That was until they returned with only five ponies. They said that they found their bodies bloodied and mutilated. The only reason they were still alive was because they decided to separate to cover more ground. It was then that I realized the types of monsters they are."

"Remember that one pony who documented the first human? Well, he had it printed on newspapers, and told everypony about it. So I told the world what had happened and what I tried to do. They were angry for some time, and turned that anger to the humans. Some of my ponies went into the forest in order to avenge their fellow ponies, but hardly any ever came back. Some of these ponies went on to write books on humans, thinking that they knew everything about them without knowing the whole truth."

"I deployed the guard to surround the forest to make sure that no humans get out and no ponies go in. And after reports of humans stopped three years ago, I pulled them back thinking that the human threat had subsided. But it seems that I was wrong." Said Princess Celestia as she started to trot towards the door before stopping half way towards it and looking back at her sister.

"I already sent a squadron of guards to ponyville in order to asses the situation. We do NOT want to cause a panic Luna. If what Twilight said is true, then we must keep it a secret. Even though it pains me to not help her, we can NOT let the public know about this human's existence," Princess Celestia said while opening the door to the hall. Only to look back at her sister and say one more thing.

"And Luna, do not go into their dreams, who knows what sort of nightmares they hold in their mind," Princess Celestia said before she closed the door to leave Princess Luna with her thoughts.

Princess Luna looked back at the spot her sister was at before looking at the ground and looking through her balcony glass door. She looked through it and looked at the landscape before her. Maybe if she hadn't betrayed her sister so many years ago she would have been able to stop this thing before it began to manifest.

She then tore her vision away from the see through door and returned to her bed, where she let her mind fall into the realm of dreams.

* * *

Princess Luna looked over, and under, and around, and forward, but no matter how hard she looked and how hard she tried, she could not manage to find a doorway into this humans dream. She had looked for a door that stood out against the usual happy, light, colored doors.

She must have passed hundreds of thousands of doors and countless hours looking for the right one to open. But after looking from up and down, and door to door, she managed to find one simple wooden door. It wasn't glowing, it wasn't shining, it wasn't even flowing with nightmares. It was just a simple dark wooden door. And this is what caught her attention the most.

Her curiosity must have gotten the best of her because not a second later, she opened the door and floated into the dark atmosphere of the solemn room. Or at least she tried. She was thrown back out of the door, almost as if it was resisting her, and she stared at it perplexed as to what could have caused such a resistance. But as she stepped forward into the dark room again, she used her magic to aid her in assistance. This time, she wasn't thrown out unceremoniously like last time

No instead, she found herself riding the back of some strange enormous metal contraption. Its interior was crowded and felt like she was trapped inside of its confines. But even though the situation she was in confused her, she remained calm through it all. After all, she had seen a great many of things withinside the dreamscapes of ponies.

She was, however, brought out of her confusion when she heard something being slammed against the confusing machinery. And as she looked in its direction, she saw right in front of her the most peculiar creature she has ever seen in her life. Sitting in front of her was a tall, black haired being who was too busy adjusting his seat to notice her. She thought that this 'thing' was ultimately the human that her sister talked to her about.

But before she could observe the human sitting in front of her, she heard the sound of a small child talking.

"Me to be like you, I know, but I really don't want to study these things," Princess Luna snapped her head to her right and saw a smaller version of the human in front of her. Immediately, she connected the dots, and thought that this smaller version of the human in front of her was its child. But that didn't confuse her though. What confused her was the fact that it spoke Equestrian.

Her sister had not mentioned that these 'ravenous' creatures were able to speak Equestria's language. It frightened her slightly. Confused her to no end. But just as she was about to announce herself she felt a sudden shift in the metal device she was in before she felt herself being thrown out of the humans dream.

She landed hastily on the ground of the dream realm. She looked back up and stared at the door that she was in before she watched it turn to dust.

And after all she had seen within that confusing world of a dream, she had only one small thing to say.

"What hast hath happened to thee?


	13. Update

I would recommend that you read it.

fimfiction blog/676148/a-life-i-lived-update


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